Challenges and Solutions in Delivering Preventive Periodontal Care to Older Adults in Community and Long-Term Residential Care Settings: A Scoping Review

Background

Preventive periodontal care is essential for older people in the community to reduce the risk of tooth loss, systemic diseases, and decreased quality of life. Despite its importance, older people in assisted living, home-based care (HBC), daycare, and other community settings face barriers to effective preventive periodontal care, including mobility, cognitive, and caregiver knowledge issues. Although these challenges are being recognized more and more, the evidence on barriers and solutions for delivering consistent preventive periodontal care remains scattered across different study designs and care contexts. Aim and objective: The aim of this scoping review is to map the existing literature and systematically identify the key challenges at patient, caregiver, and institutional levels, along with evidence-based solutions-including behavior change techniques (BCTs), tools, and interventions-for delivering preventive periodontal care to older adults in community and mixed residential settings.