Views and perceptions of oral health and associated care in dependent older adults: semi structured interviews with a range of stakeholders.

Authors

Julie McMullan, Sinead Watson, Paul Brocklehurst, Georgios Tsakos, Richard G Watt, Rebecca R Wassall, Andrea Sherriff, Sheena E Ramsey, Anup J Karki, Sayaka Tada, Caroline Lappin, Michael Donaldson, Danielle Logan, Elaine Kar Man Choong, Aoife Lordan, Gerald McKenna

Published in

Journal of dentistry. Pages 107131. Oct 27, 2026. Epub Oct 27, 2026.

Abstract

The vast majority of those over 65 years old have increased oral health needs when compared to previous generations, particularly those dependent on others for care. This study aimed to report the views and perceptions of key stakeholders regarding the oral health of dependent older adults, the current dental care/services provided for this group and identify improvements required to services.
Following development of a topic guide, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, including dependent older adults. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis.
36 interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders including dependent older adults, carers, family members, health care professionals, researchers and experts focused on ageing and / or oral health research. Six major themes emerged from the qualitative interviews: experiences of oral health; current oral health services for dependent older adults; consequences of poor oral health; improvements required in oral health care for dependent older adults and oral health outcomes important to dependent older adults CONCLUSIONS: Across all stakeholder groups there was agreement that oral health is not currently prioritised for dependent older adults with care assistants often reluctant to engage in oral hygiene practices. However participants did report that they understood the importance of oral care particularly as it related to quality of life and oral function. Older adults reported that they valued subjective measures of oral health status including oral comfort, oral function and the ability to socialise.
Previous research with dependent older adults has largely focused on clinical measures of oral health despite patients' themselves valuing subjective outputs such as oral comfort and function more strongly. Future oral health services research in this population should ensure that outcome measures used are actually meaningful to dependent older adults as well as clinicians and policymakers.

PMID:
42946116
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.