RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the existence and the quality of mobile dental services available to the austrian elderly population of Lower Austria, Austria, using two approaches: the home-bound elders' perception and the dentistry services provided in nursery homes. METHODS: The study had two parts. The first was a qualitative assessment of mobile dental services as perceived by the elderly home bounds, based on 52 questionnaires. These questionnaries were distributed to the home bound persons in a period of one month. The second part was the assessment in the nursing homes. For this study a short questionnaire was sent, by e-mail, to 61 nursing homes of Lower Austria. RESULTS: by the elderly home bound--29 questionnaires returned completed (response quote of 55.8%) and 4 uncompleted. The age range of the subjects was from 64 to 89 years old and the ratio of women to men was about 2:1 (62% to 38%). 79.3% think that dental home care is a good practice, 58.6% would use mobile dentistry themselves. in the nursing homes--From the 61 sent e-mails 33 were returned with completed questionnaires (response quote of 54.09%). 48.5% of the nursing homes replied that they do not have mobile dental service. However, 17 homes (51.51%) have a mobile dentist. CONCLUSION: A mobile dental service for patients of austrian geriatric nursing homes does exist. However, no mobile dental service was identified for austrian home bound patients. This scenario shows the need for a mobile dental care programme and politcs.
