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Periodontal Disease Among New England Elders
Author(s) -
Fox Christopher H.,
Jette Alan M.,
McGuire Sheila M.,
Feldman Henry A.,
Douglass Chester W.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of periodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.036
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1943-3670
pISSN - 0022-3492
DOI - 10.1902/jop.1994.65.7.676
Subject(s) - periodontal disease , gerontology , medicine , oral health , new england , population , dentistry , tooth loss , sample (material) , oral and maxillofacial pathology , environmental health , political science , chemistry , politics , chromatography , law
M uch of the existing oral epidemiologic literature is limited by having inadequate numbers of the oldest‐old in their sample, having used rudimentary periodontal measures, or not having examined probability samples of community‐dwelling elders. The New England Elders Dental Study (NEEDS) is the first study that documents the periodontal disease status of a probability sample of 554 adults aged 70 to 96 living within an entire U.S. Public Health Service region. The NEEDS study revealed substantially higher estimates of periodontal destruction among older adults than previous national studies would suggest. These results are consistent with several papers in the literature that suggest that periodontal disease rates are on the increase in older adults. In the coming decades dentistry should be prepared to meet the increasing need and demand for periodontal services in the growing older population. J Periodontol 1994;65:676–684 .