The Attitude of Nursing Staff Towards Oral Healthcare for Care-Dependent Older Adults (ANOCO) Questionnaire: Development and Validation.

Aims: This study aims to report on the development and validation of the Attitude of Nursing staff towards Oral healthcare for Care-dependent Older adults (ANOCO) questionnaire.

Methods: The development of the ANOCO questionnaire was performed in three stages between 2008 and 2019. In a first stage, domains related to oral healthcare attitudes were identified.

Implementing an oral health policy in long-term care facilities for older adults in Flanders, Belgium: The Oral Health Care Track.

Background: The oral health of care-dependent older people living in residential care facilities is generally suboptimal. To facilitate adequate daily oral care and timely referral to a dental professional, studies emphasise the need for sustainable, structured oral healthcare policies in aged care organisations. The effect of such interventions is often limited or uncertain owing to a lack of understanding of how effective the integration and implementation of the policy has been within the facilities.

Frailty as a determinant of dental attendance among community-dwelling older adults.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the association between different levels of frailty and dental attendance among home-dwelling older adults, in Belgium.

Background: While many determinants of dental attendance among older adults have been identified, no study has focused on the role of frailty.

Materials And Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on a random sample of home-dwelling adults aged 60 and over from two Belgian cities.

Perceptions on Oral Care Needs, Barriers, and Practices Among Managers and Staff in Long-Term Care Settings for Older People in Flanders, Belgium: A Cross-sectional Survey.

Background And Objectives: This study aimed to explore oral health perception and oral care needs, barriers, and current practices as perceived by managers and staff in long-term care organizations for older people in Flanders.

Research Design And Methods: This is a cross-sectional study where 2 questionnaires were developed, one for managers and one for caregivers, and were validated in Flemish long-term care organizations. Descriptive analyses and multivariable generalized linear models evaluated the main outcomes and their associations with determinants such as the size of the organization, the presence of an oral health policy, collaboration with a dentist, among others.

[The need for gerodontology in education and research].

The realisation that oral care for elder patients is very desirable and also necessary is only a few decades old. The earliest research was carried out in 1978. In the Netherlands and Flanders, research on oral care for the elderly began a few years later: the first doctoral degree in the field of gerodontology was awarded at the University of Nijmegen in 1989, after which more followed.