The burden of oral disorders in a population of older adults

Abstract

This paper describes the burden of oral disorders in a population of adults aged 50 years and over living independently in the community. In so doing it uses clinical, functional, experiential and psychosocial impact measures to document the oral health status of this section of the population. The data reveal that substantial proportions of subjects report that their quality of life was compromised in some way by oral problems. Although only 24.1 per cent were edentulous, 30.5 per cent were unable to chew one or more foods; 37.2 per cent reported oral or facial pain in the previous four weeks and 67.5 per cent experienced one or more other oral symptoms. One third reported problems with eating and communication--social interaction, 18.7 per cent worried a great deal about their oral health and 30.8 per cent were dissatisfied with some aspect of their oral health status. Income was consistently associated with all health status measures examined, demonstrating the scope of inequalities in oral health. In addition, regression analysis showed that low income groups had higher scores on a psychosocial impact scale after controlling for clinical, functional and experiential oral health indicators. The paper illustrates the utility of a model of disease and its consequences derived from the international classification of impairments, disabilities and handicaps in exploring oral health.