Abstract
As the population rapidly ages, there has been an increasing demand for home-visit dental services. We conducted a questionnaire to examine how home-visit dental services help patients achieve self-reliance and reduce the burden on family caregivers.
The subjects were 181 patients who received home-visit dental services between April 1999 and March 2005 and their family members. The question items included : 1) changes in the burden of nursing care in daily life (five items) ; 2) changes in oral function (three items) ; 3) evaluation of the services (three items).
The majority of the subjects were patients with cerebrovascular diseases, bone fracture, rheumatism, neurological diseases, or muscular disorders, and their chief complaints included: denture problems, eating disorders and dysphagia, decay, and periodontal problems.
We collected 66 responses (36.5%). The results of the questionnaire were as follows : 1) approximately 40% felt that the service helped reduce the burden of nursing care ; 2) about 40% recognized an improvement in their oral function ; 3) about 80% hoped that the services would be available on a regular basis. Most of the patients and their families were satisfied with home-visit dental services. Further research should be conducted to examine changes in their awareness of dental health after receiving home-visit dental services.
