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Dental Care for Older, Lower-Income Adults

The patient was leery of seeing a dentist, worried that cavity treatment would include a drill, cotton balls and a 鈥渉orrible experience.鈥�

But it was hard to say 鈥渘o鈥� when the 星空传媒 dental team traveling across Northeast Ohio made a kind of house call. The mission: to treat the cavities of 590 lower-income senior citizens who otherwise might not receive care—and, in the process, develop what researchers hope is a new standard of care for older adults.

鈥淢any people have untreated tooth decay and don鈥檛 have a dentist or insurance,鈥� said Suchitra Nelson, PhD (GRS 鈥�84, nutrition; GRS 鈥�88, 鈥�92, epidemiology and biostatistics), a School of Dental Medicine professor.

Nelson is leading the project, which is funded with $4.8 million in grants from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit.

Her team of dentists, hygienists and researchers meets study participants in their publicly subsidized apartment buildings and is testing two treatments that don鈥檛 require drilling. 鈥淚f we find them effective,鈥� Nelson said, 鈥渄entists can use them instead of drilling鈥� on older patients with vulnerable or sensitive teeth.

Because of confidentiality, participants couldn鈥檛 be interviewed about their experiences, but in a project focus group, the initially leery patient said, 鈥淚 lived long enough to see painless dentistry.鈥�