Oral condition and health status of people aged 80–85 years

Abstract

Objectives: To clarify the relationship between oral condition and health status, particularly bone mineral density (BMD), in the elderly aged 80 years or more.Methods: We examined the oral conditions and health status of two groups. One was elderly who lived at home and had at least 20 teeth at the age of 80 (8020 elderly). The other group consisted of elderly people residing in long‐term care facilities (institutionalized elderly). The oral conditions we examined were the number of teeth, masticatory ability, occlusal force, stimulated salivary flow rate, saliva buffer ability, community periodontal index (CPI) and salivary occult blood test. The health status indicators we examined were BMD, grip strength, height, weight and body mass index (BMI).Results: The number of teeth, stimulated salivary flow rate, masticatory ability, and occlusal force in the 8020 elderly were significantly higher than in the institutionalized elderly. BMD, grip strength, height, weight and BMI in these 8020 elderly were also significantly higher than in the institutionalized elderly. Masticatory ability and occlusal force in the institutionalized elderly with high BMD (high BMD group) were significantly higher than in the institutionalized elderly with low BMD (low BMD group). Grip strength, height and weight in the high BMD group were higher than in the low BMD group.Conclusions: The 8020 elderly had good oral condition and health status compared to the institutionalized elderly. There may be a relationship between number of teeth and BMD in elderly aged 80–84.