Ethical decision making in dental care for frail older people

Vurnerable older people often need intensive preventive and curative oral health care. However, their physical and cognitive decline does not always allow for lege artis implementation of dental treatments. This causes practical problems often with related moral issues. Including these moral issues...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNederlands tijdschrift voor tandheelkunde Vol. 126; no. 12; p. 687
Main Authors Schaub, R M H, Janssens, B, Petrovic, M, van Leeuwen, E
Format Journal Article
LanguageDutch
Published Netherlands 06.12.2019
Subjects
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Decision Making
Dental Care
Female
Frail Elderly
Humans
Male
Morals
Oral Health
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Summary:Vurnerable older people often need intensive preventive and curative oral health care. However, their physical and cognitive decline does not always allow for lege artis implementation of dental treatments. This causes practical problems often with related moral issues. Including these moral issues in planning and implementation will make oral healthcare more effective and will also alleviate moral pressure on oral healthcare providers. Mostly the moral issues relate to every day ethics, which can be solved by all persons involved collectively, in open consultation and with an ethics of care approach. This means aiming at 'doing the right thing in the right way', including all the relevant aspects of the person of the patient and his/her environment. To achieve this, oral health care should be embedded in the overall care process for the elderly and care providers should feel involved with the older person and have reflective skills.
ISSN:0028-2200
DOI:10.5177/ntvt.2019.12.19077