Assessment of mobile dental services in the State of Lower Austria, Austria.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the existence and the quality of mobile dental services available to the austrian elderly population of Lower Austria, Austria, using two approaches: the home-bound elders' perception and the dentistry services provided in nursery homes.


METHODS
The study had two parts. The first was a qualitative assessment of mobile dental services as perceived by the elderly home bounds, based on 52 questionnaires. These questionnaries were distributed to the home bound persons in a period of one month. The second part was the assessment in the nursing homes. For this study a short questionnaire was sent, by e-mail, to 61 nursing homes of Lower Austria.


RESULTS
by the elderly home bound--29 questionnaires returned completed (response quote of 55.8%) and 4 uncompleted. The age range of the subjects was from 64 to 89 years old and the ratio of women to men was about 2:1 (62% to 38%). 79.3% think that dental home care is a good practice, 58.6% would use mobile dentistry themselves. in the nursing homes--From the 61 sent e-mails 33 were returned with completed questionnaires (response quote of 54.09%). 48.5% of the nursing homes replied that they do not have mobile dental service. However, 17 homes (51.51%) have a mobile dentist.


CONCLUSIONS
A mobile dental service for patients of austrian geriatric nursing homes does exist. However, no mobile dental service was identified for austrian home bound patients. This scenario shows the need for a mobile dental care programme and politcs.
Corrêa da Fonseca
Ana Cláudia
AC
Danube University, Krems, Austria. accfonseca@gmail.com
Montenegro
Fernando Luiz Brunetti
FL
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001317:Austria; D016321:Dental Care for Aged / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D018577:Homebound Persons; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008952:Mobile Health Units; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires