Dental Services Provided by Dental Nurses after Completing Geriatric Dentistry Short-Term Course in 2019

Abstract

This study aimed to follow the dental service results in the target group by dental nurses who completed the short–term course of Geriatric Dentistry in 2019. This research had compared the results of dental services by dental nurses before and after graduating from the program. Secondary data was retrieved from HDC program from the Informative Technology and Communication Center and data of Oral Potentially Malignant disorders (OPMDs) screening were taken from the database of the Bureau of Dental Health, Department of Health. Data were analyzed by frequency, mean, standard deviation and compared with Paired t-test in the areas before and after dental nurses received the training. The results presented geriatric patients received more dental services in both curative treatment and oral preventive programs in the areas where dental nurses attended the training. The number of tooth fillings increased from 7,757 visits (mean=861.89) to 8,391 visits (mean=1,482.00). and that of full-mouth scaling from 17,479 (mean=104.04) to 22,295 visits (mean=208.44). For patients with long-term care, from 191 (mean=153.83) to 316 persons. (mean =174.96) had been evaluated. Regarding preventive program services in oral health care, the number of older adults receiving fluoride varnish application for root caries protection significantly increased from 546 (mean=2.27) to 1,959 patients (mean=5.35) (p<0.05). The number of clinical oral screenings and risk factor interviews for OPMDs also rose from 4,769 persons (mean=107.54) to 5,424 persons (mean=164.93). In conclusion, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the number of geriatric patients receiving dental services, including fluoride varnish application and tooth-colored fillings, in these areas where dental nurses completed the short-term training. However, there was no difference in the number of dental services provided for the geriatric patients in nearby areas where the dental nurses did not join the geriatric dentistry course in 2018 and 2020.