Utilization of Dental Services and Health Literacy by Older Seniors during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

\n Background: This study aimed to investigate the utilization of dental services by older seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate their ability of finding, understanding, and using information on COVID-19.Methods: At the end of February 2021, a survey addressing demographic characteristics of the participants, (pain-associated) utilization of dental services, worries regarding a potential COVID-19 infection, the individual use of protective masks, and difficulties regarding the access to information on COVID-19 (by using the modified European Health Literacy Questionnaire [HLS-EU-Q16]) was developed. It was sent to all patients of the Dental Clinic of University of Leipzig who were either 75, 80, or 85 years old (n=1228). Participation was voluntarily and anonymously; questionnaires had to be returned within six weeks, no reminders were sent.Results: Of the 439 replies (response rate 35.7%), twelve were excluded from data extraction due to disinterest, dementia, or lack of age information. Of the older seniors, 81.5% (n=348) had utilized at least one dental examination and 54.2% of the dentulous patients (n=199) had attended at least one dental hygiene appointment within the past year. Up to 55.8% of all participants said it was “difficult” or “very difficult” to find, understand, and use information on COVID-19, especially when judging reliability of information presented in the media, which was especially true for seniors with assigned care levels presenting odds ratios up to 5.30.Conclusions: The investigation revealed a frequent utilization of dental services by older seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. As they had difficulties with finding, using, and understanding information required to acquire or maintain a good health status, dental prevention measures and education about health issues for this vulnerable group should be improved, especially for those with assigned care levels.