Assessment of Oral Hygiene Practices, Dentition Status and Treatment Needs of Institutionalized Elderly Living in Geriatric Homes of Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka, India

Abstract

Background: With the changing trends of preference for nuclear families in India, the population living in old age home is on rise. Many oral health surveys of elderly have shown the higher proportion of oral health problems among the individuals residing in geriatric homes. Aim: To assess the oral hygiene practices, dentition status and treatment needs of institutionalized elderly living in geriatric homes of Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka, India. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted geriatric homes of Dakshina Kannada District. Pilot study was carried out to check the feasibility of the methodology and to estimate the sample size. The intra-examiner kappa coefficient values were calculated to be 0.79 reflecting a high degree of agreement. The clinical data was collected using Type III examination (ADA). Descriptive analysis of data was done. Results: The study population consisted of 384 Institutionalized elderly aged 60 years and above 39.8% and 60.2% of study subjects were using tooth brush and finger to clean their teeth respectively. Mean number of teeth present with sound crown were 17.5. Mean number of decayed and filled teeth were 2.5 and 0.36 respectively. Mean number of teeth needed root filling were 1. Conclusion: The present study concludes that dentition status was poor among study participants and treatment need was found to be relatively high among the institutionalized elderly living in geriatric homes of Dakshina Kannada District.