Oral Health and Interprofessional Collaborative Practice: Examples of the Team Approach to Geriatric Care

Course overview

Older adults generally have multiple medical problems, and no single medical issue can be evaluated and treated in isolation. Approximately 75 million people in the United States have two or more conditions that last a year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living, or both. In order to treat this population effectively, collaboration with the patient’s nonoral healthcare professionals such as their primary care provider, family members, and social workers, among others, is necessary in order to coordinate care and deliver optimal treatment. This basic-level course, appropriate for dentists, hygienists, and assistants, reviews how interprofessional collaboration leads to improved treatment outcomes for the dental and medical patient.