Singapore dentists' attitudes toward dental care provision for older adults with disabilities

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess dentists' attitudes toward providing dental care for older adults with disabilities in Singapore and the factors influencing their willingness to provide care.BackgroundDentists face a rapidly ageing patient demographic. Practitioner unwillingness to circumvent the attending challenges of care provision prevents older adults from accessing the dental care necessary for better oral and systemic health. Previous studies have reported on dentists' attitudes toward caring for older adults with disabilities; however, these are mostly limited to dependent older adults and exclude frail, community‐dwelling older persons.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was conducted in 2020 using a self‐administered questionnaire. Quantitative data analysis was presented in the form of descriptive statistics, followed by bivariate analyses.ResultsThere were 193 respondents, a response rate of under 9%. Dentists were less willing, confident and involved in the care of older adults with disabilities as the individual's severity of impairments increased. Less than half of respondents were willing to treat individuals with severe disabilities in cooperation (23.3%), swallowing (30.6%), mobility (33.7%) and communication (45.1%). Dentists with training in geriatric dentistry were more willing to provide care. However, younger dentists, general dental practitioners, private practitioners and public sector dentists had specific restraining and driving forces, which further modulated their willingness to provide care.ConclusionsThe current areas of training needs among Singapore dentists are in severe impairments of swallowing, communication, cooperation and mobility. Further geriatric dentistry training may effectively increase dentists' willingness to provide care; however, additional specific targeted interventions are also needed.

Addressing the overlooked: Integrating oral healthcare in a geriatric care system: Insights from Singapore

“…Nonetheless, the shortage of dentists who are able to offer proper geriatric care is clearly a major issue. In a recent study, it was clarified that Singapore dentists were less willing, confident and involved in the care of older adults with disabilities, while dentists with training in Gerodontology were more willing to provide care 36 . Another qualitative study also reported that Singapore dentists addressed the necessity of expansion of education and training in Gerodontology for dentists to build dentists' confidence or to increase their motivation in managing the oral health needs of dependent older adults, which will contribute to increase the number of dentists who engage in NH setting 4 …”