Geriatric Dentistry in the training and improvement of specialists in Cuba

Abstract

Introduction: The aging of the world population in the new millennium favors that attention to the geriatric patient remains a transcendental subject within contemporary specialized literature. Objective: To offer a current vision on the treatment of the Geriatric Dentistry in Cuban plans and study programs. Development: A bibliographic review was carried out assuming the scientific literature of the last 5 years to date, in English and Spanish, using the databases Ebsco, Pubmed and Scielo. There were consulted articles that approached the Geriatric Dentistry thematic in the undergraduate study curricula of the Dentistry career and how the specialization is managed from the postgraduate level. A comparative analysis of the treatment of this Dentistry discipline was carried out worldwide, so the necessity to update the Dentistry study in Cuban plans and programs was confirmed, in order to contribute to a more comprehensive student training and fill this lack in Dentistry professionals. Conclusions: it is a necessity to increase dentists' training about Geriatric Dentistry in Cuban undergraduate and postgraduate studies in order to achieve a higher life quality in older population.

Keywords

• adulto mayor
• anciano
• odontogeriatría.