Evaluation of the Information on Dutch Dental Practice Websites Regarding the Treatment of (Frail) Elderly Patients.

The number of elderly people worldwide and their need for dental care increases in a yearly basis. A dental practice website can be a valuable source of information to these patients that may need comprehensive or adjusted care. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the information on Dutch general dental practice websites on topics relevant to the treatment of (frail) elderly patients. Websites were selected from (1) a random sample of 217 Dutch general dental practices (sample-group) and (2) dental practices of 130 members of the Dutch Association for Gerodontology (gero-group), and screened for items in 4 categories: website functionality, contact details and accessibility, composition of the dental team, and specific information for elderly patients. Of the selected websites, 196 in the sample-group and 54 in the gero-group were eligible for data collection. Most websites mentioned opening hours, a phone number, and the composition of the dental team. Other information was overall scarce, especially regarding (frail) elderly patients. The gero-group significantly more often mentioned elderly as a specific target patient group (11,1% vs 2,6%), but numbers were overall low. Websites in the gero-group were hardly more informative or adjusted to elderly than in the sample-group; wheelchair accessibility was the only feature mentioned significantly more often (37.0% vs 17.3%). Only one website in the sample-group and 2 websites in the gero-group mentioned the possibility of home visits. In conclusion, dental practice websites lack information in general, and information relevant to elderly patients in particular, and there is room for improvement in website functionality. Additionally, general dental practices seem insufficiently equipped for the treatment of (frail) elderly patients, highlighting the need for improvement of oral healthcare for this specific patient group. This study addresses the insufficiencies in the provision of information on dental practice websites, allowing for targeted future studies towards improvement.