[Do the elderly receive adequate dental care? Determinants of the use of dental services by 60-to 90-year-old city dwellers. II].

Abstract

The article is a continuation of the analysis of the use of dental services by residents of a metropolitan area born between 1890 and 1919, published in issue 3 of this periodical. It involves a comparison of two different groups: the first--24.8% of the population under study--comprises "the users" of dental care without chewing difficulties; group 2 comprises test persons who, despite chewing complaints, do not seek treatment (10.4% of the population under study). While the first group presents in every respect the positive picture of aging, the second constitutes the real problem group. In its case the effects of poor social and economic living conditions are intensified by health as well as functional impairments. The absence of dental care seems to point in the first instance to problems of access to treatment.