Treating the older adult dental patient: what are the issues of concern?

Just as aging successfully requires a multifaceted approach that includes full engagement in life, maintenance of high physical and cognitive function, and avoidance of disease and related disability, so does the care of adult patients. This geriatric treatment model suggests that understanding the psychosocial, behavioral, and medical presentation of the older patient may prove to be the key to the ultimate success of the dental/oral treatment arrived at collaboratively by the dentist and the older patient.