Ekelund R
Department of Cariology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1991 Jun;19(3):169-72. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1991.tb00135.x.
As oral health is especially important for physically, mentally and socially handicapped old people, the aim of this study was to investigate the dental services provided for people living in municipal old people's homes in Finland. The study involved all the 431 municipal old people's homes in Finland in 1989. The directors of the old people's homes were asked to fill in a questionnaire. The response rate was 99.5%. The study showed that the dental services provided for the elderly vary greatly in different old people's homes. As a whole, however, dental care arrangements are inadequate: oral examinations on admission are performed always in 11% and never in 47% of the old people's homes, and oral examinations for residents are carried out annually in 23% and never in 21%. In 56% of the homes the need for treatment comes to light only when the old people themselves complain about a dental problem. Comprehensive dental care is available in 16% of the homes. One notable feature is that, although all the homes are publicly owned, the system of charging for the dental care of the elderly varies considerably between different homes. Comparing the results of this study with those from earlier investigations shows that, although there has been some progress in dental service arrangements in the 1980s, the oral care provided for these old people is still far from satisfactory. It is obvious that the value of oral health as an important component of human well-being is not yet widely recognized. To rectify the situation uniform regulations governing dental services for the elderly in institutions are required for the whole of the country.
由于口腔健康对身体、心理和社会方面存在障碍的老年人尤为重要，本研究旨在调查芬兰市政养老院为老年人提供的牙科服务。该研究涵盖了1989年芬兰所有的431家市政养老院。研究要求养老院院长填写一份调查问卷，回复率为99.5%。研究表明，不同养老院为老年人提供的牙科服务差异很大。然而总体而言，牙科护理安排并不充足：11%的养老院在老年人入院时总会进行口腔检查，47%的养老院则从不进行；23%的养老院每年为住客进行口腔检查，21%的养老院从不进行。在56%的养老院中，只有当老年人自己抱怨牙齿问题时，才会发现治疗需求。16%的养老院提供全面的牙科护理。一个显著特点是，尽管所有养老院均为公有，但不同养老院对老年人牙科护理的收费制度差异很大。将本研究结果与早期调查结果相比较可知，尽管20世纪80年代牙科服务安排有了一些进展，但为这些老年人提供的口腔护理仍远不能令人满意。显然，口腔健康作为人类福祉重要组成部分的价值尚未得到广泛认可。为纠正这种情况，需要在全国范围内制定统一的机构老年人牙科服务管理规定。
