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Most Senior Citizens Can't Afford Dental Insurance
April 7, 2006 - A survey of seniors' access to
dental care conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo and
Buffalo State College presents a sobering picture of the dental needs
and barriers to dental care experienced by seniors.
Results showed that only 11 percent of 273
respondents had dental insurance. Not surprisingly, given that figure,
more than half -- 52 percent -- listed financial need as the greatest
barrier to receiving dental care.
The findings were presented at the International
Association of Dental Research annual meeting held in March in Orlando,
Fla.
Kimberly Zittel-Palamara, M.S.W., Ph.D., clinical
assistant professor of restorative dentistry in the UB School of Dental
Medicine and an assistant professor of social work at Buffalo State
College, was first author.
"Little is known about the dental-care needs of
urban-versus-rural-dwelling seniors in this part of New York State,"
said Zittel-Palamara. "Earlier research indicated that seniors who live
in rural areas have less access to dental care than their urban-dwelling
contemporaries.
"Our study showed similar findings in Western New
York. Programs designed to improve access to dental care need to be
sensitive to regional differences."
The study grew out of an innovative program at the
UB dental school, conducted in conjunction with the UB School of Social
Work, that provides social services to older adults treated in UB dental
clinics Called CARES, for counseling, advocacy, referral, education
and service, the program received the 2005 Geriatric Oral Health Care
Award from the American Dental Association.
Surveys for the study were administered to
attendees at senior centers and nutrition sites in the eight counties of
Western New York by social work graduate students, dental students and
dental faculty and staff. Approximately one-third of respondents lived
in urban areas and two-thirds in rural settings. The median age was 74.
Results showed that access to dental care was rated
"fair-to-poor" by 1 in 3 respondents. Nearly three-fourths -- 71 percent
-- of urban dwellers indicated they had seen a dentist within the past
year, compared to 58 percent of rural dwellers. Twenty percent of rural
dwellers and 15 percent of urban dwellers had not seen a dentist for six
or more years.
Zittel-Palamara said the ultimate goal of the study
is to encourage dentists to integrate social workers and other
disciplines into their practices to help senior patients obtain better
access to dental care. In addition, the study aims to spur development
of programs to help seniors get dental insurance, she said, and to
establish the need for a mobile dental van to serve local senior-center
sites.
Additional contributors to the study were Jayne E.
Maugans, Ph.D., of Houghton College; and Yoly M. Gonzalez, D.D.S.,
Meelin Chin-Kit Wells, D.D.S., James A. Wysocki, MSW, Elaine Davis,
Ph.D., and Frank Scannapieco, D.D.S., Ph.D., all from the UB dental
school.
Wysocki is director of the CARES program.
Zittel-Palamara previously co-directed the program with him.
The study was funded by a grant from the National
Institutes of Health.
The University at Buffalo is a premier
research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive
campus in the State University of New York.
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