Organization of Dental Care for the Elderly: Integrating Mobile Dentistry and Inpatient Facilities

The aging population is becoming one of the key challenges for healthcare systems worldwide. However, geriatric dentistry remains inadequately integrated into clinical practice, particularly in the areas of mobile care and long-term care facilities. This topic was the focus of a presentation by Sonya Dunbar, RDH, known in the professional community as the “Geriatric Toothfairy,” delivered at the Greater New York Dental Meeting 2024 (GNYDM24).

Expert Voice: Personal Motivation and Professional Mission

“My name is Sonya Dunbar. I am affectionately called the ‘Geriatric Toothfairy,’ and I am incredibly excited to be here,” the speaker began her presentation. According to her, the Greater New York Dental Meeting remains one of the most significant dental conferences precisely because it brings together all members of the dental team — doctors, hygienists, and assistants.

The main theme of her presentation was geriatric dental care in the format of mobile practice and within long-term care facilities. For Sonya Dunbar, this is not merely a professional interest but a personal philosophy and an ethical stance.

Mobile Dentistry: More Than Just a Dental Van

One of the key points of the presentation was a rethinking of the very concept of mobile dentistry. According to Sonya Dunbar, mobile care is not limited to specially equipped vans:

• it can be portable equipment that enables setting up a temporary clinic;

• it can involve expanding practice through a hygienist making visits to the community;

• it can involve returning to patients who previously received treatment at the clinic but over time have moved to nursing homes or long-term care facilities.

This approach makes mobile geriatric dentistry more accessible to private practices and lowers the entry barrier for specialists who had not previously considered this mode of work.

Ethics of Care and the “Leave No One Behind” Principle

Sonya Dunbar emphasized that many patients in long-term care facilities are the same individuals who were active patients at dental clinics for many years. Now, having lost mobility or independence, they still require quality and respectful care.

As a U.S. Navy veteran, she and her husband adhere to the principle of “no man left behind.” According to her, this principle should be the foundation of geriatric dentistry. Caring for elderly patients is not charity but a continuation of professional duty and a form of “passing the baton” to future generations.

Practical Value for Dental Teams

The presentation was focused not only on inspiration but also on practical implementation. Participants gained an understanding of how to integrate geriatric care into an existing private practice; which formats of mobile work are most realistic; how to engage the entire dental team; and how to establish cooperation with long-term care facilities.

Thus, geriatric dentistry was presented not as a niche direction but as a sustainable, socially significant, and professionally in-demand expansion of practice.

Conclusion

Sonya Dunbar’s presentation at GNYDM24 served as a reminder that the future of dentistry cannot be imagined without attention to elderly patients. Mobile care formats, interdisciplinary cooperation, and the ethics of care are shaping a new model of dental practice — one focused not only on technology but also on human dignity.

As the speaker herself noted, “If we continue to live, we will all grow old one day.” And it is precisely now that the dental community is shaping the very system of care in which it will one day find itself.