social aspects of ageing

Question 1

What is the dental transition?

Answer 1

People are keeping their teeth into older age

Ages 65-74 years not edentulous-
1968- 31%
2009- 85%

Question 2

What does the adult health survey 2009 say?

Answer 2

Age is the single biggest reason for a decline in sound and untreated teeth

Edentate older adults-
1978- 30%
2009- 6%

Question 3

What is old age?

Answer 3

Historical and cultural variations for a given society 

European social survey-
~Turkey- 55
~Greece- 68

Question 4

What is ageing?

Answer 4

The combination of biological, psychological and social process that affect people as they grow older

~physical changes to body
~shifts in mental processing capacity
~changes in society and social context in which people are ageing

Question 5

What are the dimensions of age?

Answer 5

Chronological- years
Biological- physical 
Social- norms
Personal- own aims
Subjective- feel

Question 6

What is age strata?

Answer 6

People who share similar social rights and duties by virtue of age

Question 7

What is age cohort?

Answer 7

People born at a particular time show have common experiences

Question 8

What is the life course?

Answer 8

Consideration of people’s social surroundings and stories of peoples lives over time

Question 9

What affects experiences of dentistry and oral health?

Answer 9

Legal rule changes
Ongoing research
Social campaigning
Changes to beliefs

Question 10

What are the different cohorts?

Answer 10

Oldest old
Old old
New old
Heavy metal gen
Baby boomers

Question 11

What is the point of theory?

Answer 11

Helps guide our thinking of ageing
Provides a range of frameworks to examine ageing
Should be challenged by data and interpreted in light of data

Question 12

What is the disengagement theory?

Answer 12

Growing old- inevitable mutual withdrawal or disengagement

Decreased interaction between an ageing person and others on the social system he belongs to

Irreversible process

Question 13

What does the adult dental health survey 2009 show about disengagement?

Answer 13

Attend at least every 2 years-
65-74 yrs- 84%
75-84 yrs- 82%
85+ yrs- 74%

Question 14

What challenges the disengagement theory?

Answer 14

Theory and evidence from ongoing research-

Older people in UK want to keep their teeth and consider oral health a ‘life course project’

Question 15

What is the structured dependency theory?

Answer 15

People aren’t free to act in any way they see fit

Focuses on ways in which social institutions shape people’s lives

Eg. Retirement, poverty, institutionalisation, restriction of community and domestic roles

Question 16

What are barriers for older people accessing health care?

Answer 16

Limitations to care
Lack of knowledge
Training
Lack of equipment in care homes
Inadequate training in care homes

Question 17

What is cultural gerontology?

Answer 17

Focuses on role of culture
Culture= varied and complex systems of meaning that constitute everyday life

Multiple cultures of ageing w different representations of old age

• third age
• challenge of individualisation
• fourth age

Question 18

What is the third age?

Answer 18

Life after child bearing/employment
Social- rest upon social practices
Cultural- given symbolic meaning
Varied experiences of ageing process- older people as active citizens and consumers

Question 19

What is the challenge of individualisation?

Answer 19

Social identity less of a given

Individual responsibility to perform task and faces consequences of their performance

Question 20

What is the fourth age?

Answer 20

Social imaginary- set of unstated but powerful assumptions concerning dependencies and indignities of old age

Nothing but the body
Beauty work and distancing to avoid appearing old

Question 21

What is critical gerontology?

Answer 21

Critiquing and changing society
- structural pressures/constraints
- meaning
- empowerment
Ageing negotiated by individual but considering economics/politics in shaping power arrangements and inequalities

Question 22

What does the life course project involve?

Answer 22

Goals- plan to keep teeth
Values- good teeth are important 
The good dentist 
Practices- tooth brushing, attendance 
Outcomes- DMFT

Social project supported by social institutions inc dentistry, regulatory bodies and consumer oral care