Oral health for aging veterans. Making a difference: priorities for quality care research agenda.

One of the major objectives of the conference "Oral Health for Aging Veterans--Making a Difference: Priorities for Quality Care" was to create a research agenda that identifies critical questions and inspires needed research so that dentistry can participate more fully in health care reform. By synthesizing the recommendations made by the eight work groups, an agenda was prepared that suggests that oral health services research should be performed to do the following: 1. Develop a definition of oral health status; 2. Identify the factors that affect access and utilization of VA oral health services; 3. Assess the effects of the use of VA dental services on oral health status; 4. Develop a definition of oral health-related quality of life; 5. Determine the relationships among oral health status, oral health-related quality of life, health-related quality of life, and general quality of life; 6. Examine the outcomes of alternative treatments; and 7. Develop practice guidelines. To implement the proposed research agenda, VA will need to provide the necessary personnel and financial resources. It will need to communicate throughout VA the importance of dental health services research. Most importantly, it must enhance the infrastructure that supports such research, including implementation of new data systems and data collection mechanisms.