UTalca and Regional Hospital innovate in geriatric dental care
For the first time, the Acute Geriatric Unit of the Talca Regional Hospital incorporates geriatric dental care thanks to an agreement with our University.
The University of Talca, through its Odontogeriatrics program at the Faculty of Dentistry, has signed an agreement with the Talca Regional Hospital, marking a milestone in the care of older adults in the region and the country. Thanks to this agreement, odontogeriatric care is being incorporated for the first time into the Acute Geriatric Unit (UGA), a service that has existed at the hospital for years but until now lacked dedicated oral health professionals.
The program involves the weekly participation of students specializing in geriatric dentistry, accompanied by faculty instructors, who conduct comprehensive clinical evaluations at the Geriatric Dentistry Unit (UGA) and plan immediate interventions with a geriatric dentistry approach based on the identified needs. This work is carried out in close collaboration with the Unit's interdisciplinary team, allowing for a more complete and coherent clinical approach that addresses the overall needs of older patients.
The acting head of the UGA, Constanza Bluhm Pérez, explained that this joint work will allow for an improvement in the overall health of older people.
“Oral health is often neglected, but it has functional, social, nutritional, and psychological implications. This agreement facilitates access to interventions that contribute to overall well-being, something fundamental to the concept of health we seek to promote,” he stated.
For her part, the director of the Odontogeriatrics specialty, Soraya León Araya, highlighted the national projection of the model.
“We are developing a hospital model that can be replicated in other public institutions. We have already applied it at the National Institute of Geriatrics in Santiago and now we are implementing it in Talca, which will allow us to consolidate a standard for the public health system in Chile,” he said.
This project is part of the collaborative work between the University of Talca, the Society of Odontogeriatrics and the Ministry of Health, through the intersectoral table of oral health and aging.
The alliance will allow us to offer comprehensive geriatric dental care to improve the quality of life of older people.
