Yang Stella Xinchen, Leung Katherine Chiu Man, Jiang Chloe Meng, Lo Edward Chin Man
Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Apr 1;9(4):390. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9040390.
Hong Kong has a large and growing population of older adults but their oral health conditions and utilization of dental services are far from optimal. To reduce the financial barriers and to improve the accessibility of dental care services to the older adults, a number of programmes adopting an innovative shared funding, administration, and provision mode have recently been implemented. In this review, an online search on the Hong Kong government websites and the electronic medical literature databases was conducted using keywords such as "dental care," "dental service," and "Hong Kong." Dental care services for older adults in Hong Kong were identified. These programmes include government-funded outreach dental care service provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), provision of dentures and related treatments by private and NGO dentists supported by the Community Care Fund, and government healthcare vouchers for private healthcare, including dental, services. This paper presents the details of the operation of these programmes and the initial findings. There is indirect evidence that these public-funded dental care service programmes have gained acceptance and support from the government, the service recipients, and the providers. The experience gained is of great value for the development of appropriate dental care services for the older adults in Hong Kong and worldwide.
香港老年人口众多且不断增长，但其口腔健康状况和牙科服务利用率远未达到最佳水平。为减少经济障碍并提高老年人获得牙科护理服务的机会，最近实施了一些采用创新的共同资助、管理和提供模式的项目。在本综述中，通过在香港政府网站和电子医学文献数据库中使用“牙科护理”“牙科服务”和“香港”等关键词进行在线搜索，确定了香港老年人的牙科护理服务。这些项目包括由非政府组织（NGO）提供的政府资助外展牙科护理服务、由社区护理基金支持的私立和非政府组织牙医提供假牙及相关治疗，以及用于包括牙科服务在内的私立医疗服务的政府医疗券。本文介绍了这些项目的运作细节和初步结果。有间接证据表明，这些公共资助的牙科护理服务项目已获得政府、服务接受者和提供者的认可与支持。所获得的经验对于香港及全球为老年人开发适当的牙科护理服务具有重要价值。
