GSA Report: Pandemic-Driven Disruptions in Oral Health - 10 Transformative Trends in Care for Older Adults
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) has published a report, "Pandemic-Driven Disruptions in Oral Health: 10 Transformative Trends in Care for Older Adults."
"The disruptions in long-term care facilities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have created opportunities for positive long-term changes in this setting," the report notes. It calls attention to transformative trends with the potential to improve oral health care for residents - based on webinars developed by GSA’s Oral Health Workgroup and presented by nationally recognized speakers under the theme of, “Geriatric Oral Health and COVID-19: Old Problems, New Challenges.”
10 trends are presented in the publication:
- Pandemic disruption can produce permanent transformation: “COVID-19 gives us the chance to accelerate the change we want to see,” said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA, president of The John A. Hartford Foundation. “We have a mandate — ethical, moral, and clinical — to get things right going forward.”
- COVID-19 will change nursing homes
- Workforce and dental coverage challenges
- Chronic oral health problems need to be better managed
- Implementing teledentistry and teletriage
- Mobile dentistry in patients with dementia
- Vaccines by dentists
- Interprofessional oral care
- State laws and long-term care regulations
- COVID-19–related research opportunities
To read the report, click here.
To go to the press release, click here.
To go to GSA's Oral Health Workgroup, click here.
