Oral Health for Older People: evaluation of the South Australian Dental Service Project

This publication presents results from the evaluation of a project entitled ‘Oral Health for Older People’ that was conducted by the South Australian (SA) Dental Service. The project, which was developed following recommendations from a 2002 working party of the South Australian Oral Health Advisory Committee, was targeted towards the community-dwelling elderly population living within nine statistical local areas (SLAs) of Adelaide’s Southern Division of General Practice. Their oral health was screened during health assessments provided through the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) program. This publication presents results from 1,960 elderly people who were assessed in their homes by medical personnel during the period July 2003 – August 2005. More detailed data are presented from 253 elderly people who received dental care and completed interviews and questionnaires for this evaluation project.