MA residents, staff join dental care pilot

A six-month pilot underway at Mission Australia’s Charles Chambers Court aged care home aims to reduce the burden of oral disease among residents through preventative treatment and staff education.  

For residents, the program aims to improve comfort, nutrition and overall quality of life, while also lowering the risk of more serious complications such as aspiration events and avoidable hospitalisations.  

The pilot began last week and will run until January 2027 at the residential aged care service specialising in disadvantaged older people in Surry Hills in Sydney’s inner east.  

Eighty Twenty Prevention Australia – an Australian start-up focused on improving older people’s dental hygiene and preventative oral care – is the clinical delivery partner of the pilot, which is backed by the Arcare Family Foundation. 

The program will be offered to all residents at the home, said Eighty Twenty Prevention Australia co-founder Matthew Short. 

“Residents who take part will receive an oral health assessment by an oral health professional, with their individual needs and level of risk identified. The program also includes practical education and upskilling for nursing and care staff, individualised oral-care recommendations, ongoing monitoring and pathways for further dental treatment where required,” Mr Short told Australian Ageing Agenda.  

“A key part of the model is that we work alongside the existing care team rather than operating separately from them. We want oral health professionals and aged care staff to function as colleagues around the resident, with each bringing their own expertise.” 

Closing the gap in daily oral care

While there are oral health gaps in aged care, a lack of care or motivation from frontline staff is not one of them, he said. 

“Nurses and care workers are already managing extremely complex workloads and genuinely want to provide good oral care. What is often missing is practical training, confidence and easy access to oral health expertise when they need support.” 

He said the answer cannot simply be to give frontline staff another task. 

“Our role is to provide professional assessment, practical education and ongoing clinical support, so staff feel confident in the oral care they are already providing and know they have dental colleagues they can lean on when something does not look right. 

“We’re not trying to provide a dental visit every few months and then disappear. We’re trying to make oral health part of everyday care,” Mr Short told AAA. 

Pilot aims align with quality standards

Mission Australia general manager of aged care Stephen Brooker welcomed the opportunity to take a preventative approach to residents’ oral health and build staff capability in the area to help better identify and support those who may be experiencing oral health decline. 

“Many of the residents at Mission Australia’s three aged care homes are people who have experienced homelessness, mental ill-health and long periods of social exclusion. These experiences have meant that access to dental care throughout their lives has often been limited,” Mr Brooker told AAA.  

He said the aims of the pilot also align with the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards and the increased attention on oral health.

“Oral health has long been an area where many older people experience significant disadvantage. Medicare does not generally cover dental services, and aged care providers are not funded to provide comprehensive dental care. This gap leaves older people with limited financial resources relying on the public system for dental care, where they face long wait times.” 

Mr Brooker said he hopes the pilot demonstrates that better oral health leads to better overall health and quality of life for Mission Australia residents.  

“Poor oral health can contribute to pain, difficulty eating, unintended weight loss, reduced confidence and social participation, poorer mental health, and an increased risk of serious illness, including pneumonia. For older people with complex physical, cognitive and psychosocial needs, these impacts can be significant,” he said.  

“We are particularly interested in understanding whether a structured prevention model, combining staff education, specialist clinical input and digital monitoring, can improve outcomes, support compliance with emerging standards and reduce avoidable health complications.” 

Driving the maintenance of functional dentition

Aged care is the primary focus of Eighty Twenty Prevention Australia. Mr Short said the name is inspired by Japan’s 8020 movement, which promotes the idea that maintaining functional dentition into older age should be a lifelong prevention goal. 

Japan’s public health campaign promotes 20 natural, healthy teeth at age 80 and over as the minimum amount required to eat the most common variety of foods and maintain a balanced diet. 

Mr Short said they started Eighty Twenty Prevention Australia because poor oral health should not be simply accepted as part of getting older.

“Many people entering residential aged care have increasingly complex health needs and may no longer be able to independently manage their oral hygiene or routinely access dental care.” 

The strengthened quality standards have also created an important catalyst for change, he added. 

“Oral health now has much clearer prominence within the expectations placed on providers. The challenge is making those expectations practical and sustainable for residents and the staff caring for them every day.” 

Mr Short said his immediate goal is to show that the model can work practically and sustainably within real aged care settings. 

“We want to understand whether combining professional oral health assessment, staff capability-building, ongoing monitoring and clear referral pathways can improve the way oral health is managed day to day.” 

After that, if the pilot demonstrates that the model is practical, valuable to residents and supportive of frontline teams, he said the next goal is to expand to more aged care homes. 

“Ultimately, we hope to contribute to a broader shift from reactive dental care towards prevention and earlier intervention in aged care.”