We are very happy to announce that Dr Wilma Johnson has commenced our mobile dental service to aged care facilities, seeing and treating people that are unable to travel to our clinic.
Despite studies showing that we are living longer and retaining our teeth more than ever before, for people living in aged care facilities, nursing homes, and those with disabilities they often struggle to access high quality and affordable dental care. As a consequence decreased salivary flow, higher decay rates, dental infections, pain, bleeding gums, and poor nutrition from being unable to eat properly, becomes an ever increasing problem for these people. With complex medical histories and for those often taking multiple medications, dental problems for this group can create significant impacts on the persons health and well being, and even contributing to conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, chronic fatigue, and compromising the immune system.
There were over 3million people in Australia aged 65 and over, and this figure is growing at around 13% every ten years. As a result of the ageing process we begin to enter a phase of life that requires more professional dental intervention than ever before, and when people reside in aged care facilities, when proper dental care becomes difficult, ineffective or even impossible. Until recently.
Our aim at the Hobart Orofacial Pain and Special Needs Clinic is to make dentistry affordable and accessible, and to reverse the inequities to oral health care for people who find it difficult to access regular dental care and treatment. By proving a mobile service we hope to improve the comfort, function, health, and daily lives of residents within aged care facilities. All services are provided at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs – Schedule of Dental Fees which provide residents of aged care facilities significant reduction of costs compared with typical private fees.
Please see our page on Aged Dental Care or contact our rooms by telephone for further information.