An innovative and comprehensive approach to community health and research engagement using the Social Ecological Model.

Ageing can be chronological, biological or psychological. Chronological age is a person's age in years. This has limited significance when talking about health. Biological age simply refers to changes in the body which certainly occur as we age. The first sign may be in our appearance which includes gray hair, receding of hairlines, few wrinkles, weight gain, declined organ functions, impaired vision and hearing. Psychological age is measured by how people act and feel. Decline in learning and memory usually begin after people reach their 70s and various disorders can set in, including loss of memory, mental or emotional disorders. Nowadays, people are not only living longer but also retaining their natural teeth for longer into old age. Exposure of vulnerable root surfaces to the oral environment due to gum recession potentiates the decay process. Therefore older people are still at risk of developing root caries, gum disease, tooth wear and also oral cancer. Oral health care must be accessible to every segment of the population so as to bridge the gap between the need for care and the amount of care being sought. In order to achieve this, the barriers preventing elderly people from accessing the oral health care services must be put into consideration. Despite their increased need, the uptake of dental care by elderly people is characteristically poor and unmet needs may be high. A previous study among an American population demonstrated that barriers to the uptake of care include a lack of perceived need, concerns about availability, cost and fear of cost, fear of treatment and anxiety about Dentist characteristics. However, owing to the current advances in oral health delivery and the increasing oral health awareness in our environment there's a need to investigate the prevailing barriers to oral heath among the elderly population in our environment.