[The dental state of old-age pensioners resident in homes for the elderly and long-stay geriatric units in Reykjavík].

Abstract

In 1984 the dental state was clinically investigated in a random sample of 400 old-age pensioners, 67 years or older, who were either inmates of old people's residential or nursing homes or long-term patients in geriatric departments of the hospitals in Reykjavík. Decayed, missing and filled teeth were recorded in accordance with criteria suggested by WHO. Of the participants 10% (27 males and 13 females) were dentulous with a mean number of 9.9 teeth. The mean number of remaining teeth in dentate subjects was higher in the mandible than in the maxilla. The mean number of remaining teeth per person decreased with increasing age and was higher in males than females in 4 out of 5 age groups. The teeth most commonly retained were the canines and lateral incisors in the mandible and central incisors and canines in the maxilla. Only 0.8% of the sample had greater than or equal to 10 teeth in each dental arch.