Greek dental students’ perceptions of treating older patients

Abstract

Since the mid-20th century, a global demographic revolution has been observed with an expanding number of older people in the population. This is attributed to the birth deficit and the rise in average life expectancy 1,2 owing to medical progress, improved nutrition, the decline in infant mortality and the development of vaccines. 3 Although older people are living longer, many do not live in better

Ageism scale for dental students (ASDS): A focus group review of content validity

“…Given that all three focus groups mentioned ageist attitudes in the context of affecting treatment recommendations, we feel that future research should focus on additional ways to minimize these types of age‐based assumptions. Similar challenging factors when treating older patients were identified by Greek dental students but also several facilitating factors including the good interaction with older patients, the promotion of their quality of life, and the improvement of their clinical competences when treating complex cases that could be the basis for educational improvements 32 …”

“…Similar challenging factors when treating older patients were identified by Greek dental students but also several facilitating factors including the good interaction with older patients, the promotion of their quality of life, and the improvement of their clinical competences when treating complex cases that could be the basis for educational improvements. 32 It should also be noted that one of the applications of the ageism scale is to be used at the beginning of dental courses (particularly in geriatric dentistry) as an assessment tool to identify the degree of student bias against older adults, which will help dental educators use targeted interventions to reduce this bias through education within their courses, and the same scale can be used after the course to check if the desired outcome was achieved. 11,33 In a recent study, Piaton et al emphasized the need for appropriate training to reduce ageism, and how the ASDS might be able to capture a specific part of the ageism construct related to dentistry.…”