Dental care in the community for patients with learning disability

Abstract

Objective To investigate changes in the oral healthcare of adults with learning disability after transference from long stay hospital care to community-based care. Subjects Adults with learning disability who were former residents of a single long stay hospital and who had been resettled into the community during the period April1995 to April 1998. Design Structured questionnaire with a covering letter sent to community-based carers. Hospital notes were reviewed to assess oral healthcare received as in-patients. Results There was a 68% response rate to the questionnaire from community-based carers with details obtained from 106 out of a possible 157 subjects. As residents in the hospital, all subjects were examined regularly by a dentist – yearly for edentulous and six-monthly for dentate individuals. However, attendance patterns were less regular as residents in the community. In the community, individuals were also less likely to receive operative dental treatment. Although oral hygiene regimes were generally on a daily basis only 37% of the subjects and/or their carers had received oral health education from dental professionals in the community. Conclusion Changes from institutional living to community-based housing for adults with learning disability may be associated with changes in dental attendance and treatment patterns.