Oral healthcare for older people: 'I can't afford not to go to the dentist, but can I afford it?'.

Full Abstract

AIM:
The purpose of this study was to examine challenges older people encounter in maintaining satisfactory oral health status.

METHOD:
This interpretive qualitative study involved 19 in-depth interviews with participants aged 65 to 87 years. Data were examined using a three-level analytic process. NVivo Qualitative Software assisted data management.

RESULTS:
Participants in this study didn't 'just go' to the dentist. Much effort went into solving the dilemmas and tensions of maintaining their oral health through a process of option balancing. Balancing personal and financial costs, they continually assessed their 'bottom line'. They negotiated issues of:
dental cost versus service quality; basic treatment versus functionality and social appearance; future living costs versus current dental costs; and 'how long will it need to last' versus 'how long will I live'?

CONCLUSION:
Problems exist in the provision of affordable oral health care for the older population in Aotearoa New Zealand. They struggle to afford dental care. They receive little financial support to access oral healthcare services and are dependent on developing their own strategies to enable such care. Health professionals and policy decisionmakers' challenge is to bridge this gap.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Giddings, Lynne (L); McKenzie-Green, Barbara (B); Buttle, Linda (L); Tahana, Keita (K);

Affiliation: School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, AUT University, Auckland. lynne.giddings(-atsign-)aut.ac.nz

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The New Zealand medical journal (N Z Med J), published in New Zealand. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Sep; vol 121 (issue 1281) : pp 72-9

Dates: Created 2008/09/17; Completed 2008/10/02;

PMID: 18797486, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Attitude to Health
Decision Making
Dental Care for Aged - economics; psychology; utilization
Female

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.