Premium
Oral health and treatment needs among patients in psychiatric institutions for the elderly
Author(s) -
Vigild Merete,
Brinck Jørgen J.,
Christensen John
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1993.tb00745.x
Subject(s) - medicine , oral hygiene , danish , oral health , population , dental care , mental hygiene , family medicine , elderly people , hygiene , dental health , dentistry , psychiatry , gerontology , mental health , environmental health , philosophy , linguistics , pathology
– The purpose of the study was to assess oral health and treatment needs among elderly in psychiatric institutions in a Danish county. The study serves as baseline for the evaluation of a newly established oral health care program in the county. The study population comprised the residents in eight institutions ( n = 407). Two thirds of the residents were edentulous, 34% of the dentate had one or more root remnants, and 55% had untreated decay. The dentate with regular dental visiting habits had significantly less untreated decay than the irregular users. The oral hygiene was poor, but was not related to whether or not the elderly were assisted in daily oral hygiene. The evaluation of the program will show to what extent treatment takes place, and whether or not oral hygiene improves.