Care home residents are not always able to communicate when they are experiencing dental pain or discomfort and are often not physically able to travel to a dental practice. That’s why it’s important for dental care to be delivered within care homes wherever possible.
Historically, care homes have had to make their own care arrangements with dental practices themselves, or refer their eligible residents to Community Dental Services CIC, a referral only dental service that brings dental care to people who cannot be treated in general dental practice. As a small organisation, Community Dental Services CIC has been experiencing extremely high demand for services which has resulted in challenges for patients in accessing care.
To address this, we’ve developed a care home initiative to ensure that all care home beds in mid and south Essex are covered by a dental practice. This means that residents living in care homes now have equitable access to oral health assessments and treatment from a dedicated dental practice. We have commissioned dental teams to visit care homes to carry out oral health assessments and treat patients who need dental treatment.
To date (May 2025), all care homes in mid and south Essex have been offered oral health assessments for their residents, and over 5,500 courses of treatment have been delivered following the assessments.
The dental care professionals have also supported care home staff to develop their skills in assessing and looking after care home residents’ oral health and have provided oral health plans for each resident. The initiative has been beneficial for dental care professionals as well, who have gained valuable experience, including treating patients outside of the dental practice environment, and developing their understanding of how to best to work with and treat patients with dementia and learning disabilities. Additionally, due to the decrease in referrals to Community Dental Services CIC, the waiting times for this service have also greatly reduced.