Dental professionals know that older adults are vulnerable to oral health issues. What’s more, older Americans have long faced barriers to accessing dental care, such as cost, lack of dental coverage, and difficulties with transportation—and the ongoing pandemic has only exacerbated the situation.
In a summary of three CMS-conducted surveys of older Medicare beneficiaries, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health indicated that the pandemic led to widespread delays in health care, especially dental care, for older adults, with some 44% (5.7 million people) of those who delayed health care indicating they put off dental care—a higher rate than for any other type of care.
In summarizing three surveys of older Medicare beneficiaries conducted by CMS, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health points to a likely surge in oral disease that will be traceable to pandemic-induced delays in dental care.
Other key findings from the surveys include:
- In three out of four instances where dental care was delayed earlier in the pandemic, providers made the decision, usually by closing their offices or restricting care to patients with urgent health needs.
- “Risk” was a leading reason beneficiaries gave (80%) in summer 2020 for delaying dental care, with 87% citing this reason in fall 2020.
- Later in the pandemic (winter 2021), transportation became a more frequently cited reason for delayed dental care.
Access the full CareQuest research brief: Many older adults delayed dental care during the pandemic
