DENTAL FINDINGS IN GERIATRIC POPULATIONS WITH DIVERSE MEDICAL BACKGROUNDS

Objective. To determine whether there is a difference in the oral/dent al health in older persons with different life styles and medical stat us. Study design. Survey (cross-sectional study) included four groups: (1) subjects (n = 123) living in a residential retirement home or com munity dwelling; (2) subjects (n = 218) seeking dental treatment at a Veterans Affairs Dental Outpatient Clinic; (3) subjects (n = 132) resi dent in a VA long-term care facility; and (4) subjects (n = 81) recent ly admitted to a VA acute care ward with a diagnosis of cerebral vascu lar accident or other neurologic problem. Each subject answered questi ons on medical and dental health and dietary preferences in a comprehe nsive interview. They were given a comprehensive dental examination th at included measurements of stimulated salivary flow and minor salivar y gland output. Results. The data from groups 2 and 3 confirmed previo us reports that independent living subjects have better oral/dental he alth than dependent living subjects. The data from groups 1 and 4, obt ained from geriatric populations on the opposite ends of the medical h ealth/disease continuum provide new information that suggests that goo d medical health and good oral/dental health are linked. The subjects in group 1 were very healthy as judged by their longevity; 54% were gr eater than or equal to 80 years and they had low reported prevalence o f medical disease. Only 6% were edentulous and the dentate persons wer e missing 4.5 teeth. In contrast, over 50% of the patients in group 4 were < 70 years; they had an edentulous rate of 49% and among the dent ate persons had an average 12 missing and 5 decayed teeth. Conclusions . The medically healthy persons had excellent dental health whereas th e sickest persons were either edentulous or had many missing teeth.