A new guide to help dental professionals incorporate dementia-friendly care into their practice has been published by the University of Plymouth.
The guide contains tips, ideas and explanations on how dental professionals and the wider team at surgeries can make their people, places and processes more dementia friendly.
Examples include:
- offering familiarisation visits to the practice prior to appointments to help alleviate anxiety
- avoiding shiny flooring (which can look like water to a person with dementia) or dark carpets (that can appear as black holes)
- having regular dementia workshops or training with all staff
- engaging with people with dementia and their carers to ask for feedback on what would make their visits easier.