17 Apr Boulton Dental caring for aged care residents in the community
It can be very challenging for families to take their elderly loved ones out of their nursing homes for a visit to the dentist. To reduce the stress of all this, Dr Edward Boulton has been conducting dental visits to local nursing homes for the last 3 years. Currently, Dr Boulton services 3 nursing homes and visits each site at 6-month intervals and is looking to expand the number of aged care facilities that he services to help maintain more of the aging populations oral health in the Newcastle region.
Dr Boulton regularly visits Irwin Hall, Teonnie Gardens and Lindsay Gardens where he and his dental assistants usually operate out of the hair dressing room, flexibility, empathy and efficiency being vital during these visits. For Dr Edward Boulton, the visits to the aged care facilities are highly rewarding. “It is a wonderful day out of the office and the team enjoy all of the stories from the residents, which make the day very fun”, explains Boulton.
Majority of the resident’s dental treatment is funded through Hunter New England Health or Veteran Affairs so there is usually no cost for the patients. Hunter New England Health supplies the dental chair, cart and other equipment and Dr Boulton and his team contribute all of the materials and a few other dental supplies required.
During these dental visits the team spend the day treating a range of patients, some are able to get into the dental chair while others remain in their beds or wheel chairs. The aim is to limit damage and prevent any toothaches in the future. The treatment mainly consists of cleaning and polishing teeth and patching up broken and decayed teeth with fillings with dental treatment aimed as being minimalistic as possible. Most of the fillings are able to be done without any local anaesthetic and are completely pain free leaving the patients smiling and saying that it was the best dental experience ever. Any more advanced or challenging treatment such as extractions are usually postponed, and the patients then come into the Boulton Dental clinic on another day.
The day is very busy for the team who often see over 30 patients. Both the team at Boulton Dental and the nursing staff work hard to make sure everything is in place for a smooth day of dentistry at the facility.
To find out more about aged care facility dental servicing options, please contact Boulton Dental on 4961 6300 or email [email protected]
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