Many people who depend on care in Germany are not receiving the dental preventive care they need, according to a study by the health insurer Barmer that was made available to the news agency AFP on Tuesday. The shortfalls are especially pronounced among residents of nursing homes whose facilities have no cooperation agreement with dentists.
In 2024, dentists assessed the oral health status and drew up an oral health plan for just over a quarter of the nursing-home residents insured with Barmer nationwide. Around 80 percent of these preventive services were carried out in nursing homes that had signed cooperation contracts with dentists.
Such agreements, however, existed in fewer than half of all nursing homes. Facilities without them accounted for just two percent of the examinations that were actually carried out. Overall, the use of these services among nursing-home residents roughly doubled between 2019 and 2024, climbing to more than 25 percent, while among people cared for in their own homes the rate stayed low at around three percent.
At the same time, the health insurance company identified significant regional differences. For those requiring inpatient care, the utilization of preventive care services in 2024 ranged from 16.8 percent in Lower Saxony to 45.5 percent in Berlin. Hamburg and Saxony showed comparatively high rates, 42.7 percent and 42.6 percent, respectively.
For those requiring outpatient care, the rate in 2024 was significantly lower. Saxony, at nine percent, was well ahead of all the western federal states, which each remained below three percent. In the eastern states, the uptake of preventive dental services among care-dependent people was generally higher, the study noted.
“For residents in nursing homes, visiting a dental office is virtually impossible,” explained Barmer CEO Christoph Straub. “That is why there is a gap in care if they are not examined on site.” Straub called for greater cooperation between nursing homes and dentists. The situation is also “alarming” for those requiring outpatient care, explained report author Michael Walter. There is a “need for action” to address these shortcomings.
For its so-called dental report, Barmer drew on anonymised billing data from insured people aged 65 and over, covering the years 2013 to 2024. The consequences of poor oral health include malnutrition, weight loss and physical weakness, outcomes that can have particularly severe effects on people who depend on care.
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