Pain-causing dental conditions in nursing home residents with dementia are not only being under-treated but are also, in large part, not even being detected.
Moreover, even geriatricians may be missing the majority of pain related to dental problems in this population, suggests a report from the Research Institute of the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, District of Columbia, United States.
This study by Drs J Cohen-Mansfield and S Lipson is believed to be the first to investigate dental pain in older people with dementia. Study participants were 21 nursing home residents with a mean age of 88 years. Nine volunteer dentists visited the nursing home on a rotating basis to conduct dental evaluations in the group. Two outside geriatricians then did a second assessment in each case, and additional information on participant dental status was obtained from the minimum data set (MDS).
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