People with disabilities: how are we going to meet their needs?

Abstract

The proportion of the population age 65+ years will increase to 20% of U.S. residents in the next decades. It has been shown that the portion of the population with disabilities increases with age. Providing care for individuals with disabilities is expensive and consuming an increasing component of health service benefits. Health providers increasingly will be called upon to provide services for millions of persons with a wide range of ages and disabilities. How well prepared will the health professions, the individual practitioners, including dentists, and society in general be to meet these increasing needs?