PROVIDER RESOURCES
For Dental Providers
ACT on Alzheimer’s and our partners strive to increase the capacity of dental providers to care for the growing number of older adults living with dementia and to support their care partners. You will find training packages and resources for the entire dental team (DDS, DH, DT, DA and administrative staff).
These training resources have been developed through a collaborative initiative including the Minnesota Dental Association, the University of Minnesota Northstar Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program, Delta Dental Foundation, the University of MN School of Dentistry and ACT on Alzheimer's.
Training Programs
Training for All Dental Staff
ACT on Alzheimer’s® Dementia Friendly for Healthcare provides a free 60- or 90-minute training for staff working in dental care settings. The training is conducted by volunteers who are trained by ACT on Alzheimer's to lead the sessions. The training helps workers understand dementia and learn how to create an environment that is safe, respectful and welcoming for people living with dementia.
Objectives for the Training
- Define dementia and identify early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Employ effective strategies for communicating and interacting with patients with dementia.
- Improve patient safety and well-being by creating a dementia-friendly physical space.
- List community resources and services that support patients living with dementia.
Creating a Dementia-friendly Dental Practice: An In-depth Training Program
The number of adults with dementia in our communities is growing rapidly, affecting approximately 7 million people in the US. More strikingly, these numbers are expected to triple by 2050. Touching us all, the adults with dementia represent our family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, colleagues, patients, and their care partners.
As a dental professional, you can play a key role in caring for and supporting people with dementia and their care partners. You and your team can learn how to provide ongoing oral health services, promote timely detection and diagnosis, educate about dementia, and connect people with community resources that promote quality of life. As a dental care setting with dementia champions and helpful practices, you and your team can advance your community’s effort to be supportive of everyone touched by the disease.
Dental Provider Practice Tool
Provides dentists and other dental care practitioners evidence-based protocols for detecting cognitive impairment, sharing concerns about memory and thinking changes with patients, assessing decision-making capacity, simplifying and optimizing dental treatment and offering support and resources to patients with cognitive impairment or dementia.
Video Tutorials
Use these ACT on Alzheimer's® videos in your work with cognitively impaired patients and their care partners. Presented in clinic settings with real patients, the video tutorials represent best and emerging dementia care practices.
Sharing Concerns about Memory or Thinking Changes
Demonstration video with patient and care partner; sharing concerns
(5:35 minutes)
Decision-Making & Capacity Assessment
Demonstration Video with Patient and Care Partner: Shared Decision-Making & Assessing Capacity to Consent
(12:42 minutes)
Additional Material
See Medical Practice Tools for additional materials. Watch additional video and webinar tutorials to learn more about administering and scoring cognitive screening instruments (e.g., MiniCog) and discussing results of cognitive screening.
Become a Trainer
Would you like to become a trainer for Dementia Friendly for Healthcare? You don't need any particular experience or expertise other than a desire to help make your community more dementia friendly and comfort in leading a group session. Complete three easy self-learning steps to become a trainer.
