Dental Treatment needs of Vulnerable Elderly in Israel – Data from 'Smile again' project

Objectives: Analysis of treatments provided by the project, cost, prevalence of problems relating to the oral health of the population treated by the project.
Methods: Analysis of administrative data on 1,700 patients, interviews with professionals participating in the project, telephone interviews with 210 community-dwelling elderly treated by the project.
Results: Prosthetic treatments consisted 75% of the treatments provided to community-dwelling elders and even higher rate in those provided to elders in institutions of long-term nursing care. The patients’ dental condition and extent of their dental problems attest to a relatively high rate of dental disease. This is typical of elders of a low socioeconomic status. The average cost of treatment per elder living in the community averaged NIS4,193 and NIS 3,976 in institutions of long-term nursing care.
Conclusions: The addition of dental care for elders to the basket of services under the NHIL is considered. The main issues under deliberation are: Will the service be universal or provided only to particular groups, and what treatments will be included in the basket? How much budget is needed for implementation? The study offers data on the oral health of the elderly and their dental treatment needs, the treatments they actually received, cost of treatment and problems of service delivery stemming from availability and accessibility.