A 9-YEAR LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF REPORTED ORAL PROBLEMS AND DENTAL AND PERIODONTAL STATUS IN 70-YEAR-OLD AND 79-YEAR-OLD CITY COHORTS IN NORTHERN SWEDEN

Before 1981 no representative studies of oral health in an elderly pop ulation in northern Sweden had been presented, and longitudinal studie s of oral health in the aging person were in general rare. Thus rhs ai m of this study was to investigate longitudinal chancres in oral healt h in a representative sample of an elderly city population in northern Sweden. Reported oral problems and treatment needs were noted, and de ntal and periodontal status was registered in clinical examinations. T he frequency of reported annual dental visits and of being called by t he dentist increased in the younger but not in the older cohort during the 9-year period. In 1990 all the 79- and 88-year-olds with annual v isits reported that they were recalled by the dentist. The clinical in vestigation showed an increasing amount of tooth loss, root caries, an d periodontal disease with increasing age. Among dentulous persons 1.7 teeth per subject were lost from 1981 to 1990 in the younger cohort, compared with 2.6 teeth per subject in the older cohort. The number of sound teeth decreased very little in the younger cohort (from 3.44 to 3.34) but more evidently in the older cohort (from 3.47 to 2.65) duri ng the 9-year period. The frequency of surfaces with attachment level >3mm increased statistically significantly from 1981 to 1990 in die ol der cohort. Subjects with annual visits had in general fewer oral prob lems.