Symposium to focus on oral health and seniors

New York鈥擳he New York Academy of Sciences and Oral Health America will convene a symposium Oct. 16 to focus on oral health and the significant role it plays in the overall health of seniors.

The daylong event, Collaborative Health Care for Older Adults: A Symposium for Creating Dialogue Between Medicine and Dentistry, will be held at the NYAS conference center from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. The symposium is sponsored by Aetna Dental, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and DENTSPLY International.

The keynote speaker for the event will be Marie Bernard, M.D., Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging.

This symposium aims to improve patient outcomes, enhance the quality of health care delivery and lower health care costs for the elderly by achieving the following goals:

• Engage medical and dental professionals in collaboration on developing inter-professional models of patient-centered care and education;
• Incorporate current research and policy into practical, professional guidelines for patient-centered care;
• Offer meaningful and relevant resources to professional attendees;
• Attract the maximum number of attendees from diverse backgrounds;
• Expand the audience of potential partners (e.g., other medical professionals, lawmakers and the public) by disseminating a wide array of professionally developed, post-conference communications.

Symposium health and medical topics will include:

• Epidemiology of neurodegeneration;
• Musculoskeletal conditions;
• Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus: co-morbidities that affect dental care for the older patient;
• Stem cell-based composite tissue constructs for regenerative medicine;
• Oral pathology affecting older adults;
• Saliva and salivary glands in the elderly: interaction of saliva and taste.

Policy Implications and Inter-Professional Relationships topics will include:

• Retooling for an aging America;
• Current and future models in geriatric medicine education;
• Geriatric dental education and training in the United States;
• Establishing benchmarks for quality care for an aging population: caring for vulnerable adults.

For details or to register, log on to www.nyas.org/health-aging.