Can a Low-threshold Check-up Motivate Older People to Schedule a Dental Visit?

Can a Low-threshold Check-up Motivate Older People to Schedule a Dental Visit? A Randomized Controlled Trial

There is little research on the effect of oral screening campaigns for improving oral health in older people. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a low-threshold contact with an oral health professional, including an oral health examination, on dental attendance of older people (65 years of age or older).

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Oral Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Oral screening

Detailed Description

The intervention group will be provided with tools to facilitate dental contact and will be informed about the importance of regular dental visits. Participants are given the opportunity to receive an oral examination. Afterwards, each participant will receive brochures with oral hygiene instructions to take home. Participants will receive information about any identified oral pathology. A referral letter for the dentist and a report for the general practitioner will also be prepared to increase social influence. If the participant doesn't have a dentist, the participant will receive a list of contact information for dentists in the area.

In the control group, no oral examination will be performed. However, participants will be given a list of nearby dentists and flyers with oral hygiene instructions.

In this way, we want to find out whether the presence of a dental professional with tailored advice is crucial to motivate an elderly person to good oral care.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 194
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Aster De Vleeschauwer; Phone Number: +32470475369; Email: aster.devleeschauwer@ugent.be
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Barbara Janssens; Phone Number: +32473615130; Email: barbarae.janssens@ugent.be

Study Locations

• Belgium
  • Gent, Belgium, 9000
    • Recruiting
    • UGent
    • Contact: Aster De Vleeschauwer; Email: aster.devleeschauwer@ugent.be
    • Principal Investigator: Barbara barbarae.janssens@ugent.be, Prof. dr.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion criteria:

• 65 years of age or older
• home-dwelling within the selected regions (ELZ RITS en ELZ Scheldekracht)
• Dutch speaking
• no dental check-up in the last 12 months
• sufficient cognitive ability to answer the questions

Exclusion criteria:

- Failure to meet inclusion criteria

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group; The intervention group will be provided with tools to facilitate dental contact and will be informed about the importance of regular dental visits. Participants are given the opportunity to receive an oral examination. Afterwards, each participant will receive brochures with oral hygiene instructions to take home. Participants will receive information about any identified oral pathology. A referral letter for the dentist and a report for the general practitioner will also be prepared to increase social influence. If the participant doesn't have a dentist, the participant will receive a list of contact information for dentists in the area.	Procedure: Oral screening; The participants in the intervention group will receive an oral examination. Subsequently, information about any identified problem will be given. Lastly, participants will receive a referral letter for their dentist and a report for the general practitioner. If the participants don't have a regular dentist, they will also be given a list with contact information of dentists in the area.
No Intervention: Control Group; In the control group, no oral examination will be performed. However, participants will be given a list of nearby dentists and flyers with oral hygiene instructions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Contacted a dentist	Number of participants that have contacted a dentist within 4 months.	4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Ghent
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Barbara Janssens, University Ghent

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 25, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 6, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 27, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 2, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 17, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 17, 2024
• Last Verified: May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Stomatognathic Diseases; Mouth Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: GerodentPLUS1

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Privacy of the participants

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No