The United States is experiencing an unprecedented expansion of its older population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 2013), which is disproportionately concentrated in its rural areas (Glasgow & Brown, 2012). Many older Americans do not have dental insurance as they lose employer-sponsored dental benefits upon retirement (CDC, 2013). While Medicare and Medicaid do not cover routine dental care (CDC, 2013) majority of the Medicare beneficiaries have a regular source of medical care (Bocuti et al., 2013). If the medical providers are “the only accessible points of entry to the health care system and for others the physician is an important source for all health concerns” (Cohen, 2013) it follows that integrating care will lead to a more effective treatment of oral diseases.
The purpose of this study was to describe current state of knowledge on practices and approaches for integration of oral health services with primary care practices for older adults. A narrative literature review was conducted of studies published between 2008-2018 utilizing 7 databases (PubMed with MedLine, PubMed Central, CINAHL, EBSCO, ProQuest Central, JSTOR, and GOOGLE scholar) to identify existing models that demonstrate effective integration of oral care with primary care practices.
The results highlight promising practices across the U.S. that have successfully integrated oral health services with primary care practices and can be beneficial to the older adults in rural and remote communities. An integrative approach results in improved quality of care that is more cost-effective and patient-centric with faster diagnoses and appropriate referrals
