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Sammanfattning

Many elderly people lose contact with their dental providers even if these health care contacts are still present. This is probably due to a proceeding health deterioration and increasing functional limitation. In some cases it could be four or five years since an elderly patient visited a dental clinic and consequently the oral situation may be so bad that there are no possibilities for a proper rehabilitation, especially in such a frail patient. The questions arise on how this could happen and why was it not prevented in time? Oral and general health are closely related for an elderly person, thus to keep contacts active, both health and dental care professionals need to be involved. Bad oral health can have consequences for the elderly person’s total life and health situation. This paper provides a view of different circumstances, both individual and general that may cause the loss of dental contacts and give possible suggestions to actions. The authors take a Swedish perspective but the majority of the content can be generally applied to any ageing population with many preserved natural teeth.

MeSH