A new dental teaching clinic at St Vincent de Paul Residence was inaugurated by the Faculty of Dental Surgery in collaboration with the Office of the Parliamentary Secretary for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing.
The clinic is the brainchild of Nikolai Attard, dean, Faculty of Dental Surgery and Head of Department of Oral Rehabilitation and Community Care, University of Malta.
Following epidemiological research on State institutionalised elderly, conducted by the faculty, and which forms part of the on-going National Oral Health Survey, Attard saw the need for a dental teaching clinic.
The research data indicated that older adults in Malta living in the State residences have poor oral health. Attard emphasised that active ageing can only be achieved through a good quality of life accompanied by a good oral health.
It was, therefore, clear that the Faculty of Dental Surgery, as a stakeholder in the field of oral health, should seek to establish a dental teaching unit within the residence of St Vincent De Paul in collaboration with the Parliamentary Secretariat for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing.
Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana said that the clinic has fully equipped dental stations specifically accessible for elderly patients, including wheel-chair users. All dental services will be provided and all will be focused on geriatric dentistry.
She said that the main objectives were to improve the dental services for the elderly residing at St Vincent de Paul through the use of high-tech equipment in a specialised state-of-the-art clinic and by increasing the repertoire of services.
The aim was to extend these services to the elderly in the community and other residential homes.
University of Malta rector, Juanito Camilleri, said this project would support teaching activities in the delivery of education and training to all the dental students studying the diverse disciplines within the field of dentistry. This provides a setting for specialised training in geriatric dental care that may possibly lead towards post-graduate degrees.
Attard thanked all the persons involved in bringing this project to fruition as well as all the workers and suppliers.