Oral mucosal lesions and the need for dentures in a brazilian elderly population

Abstract

Objective: Verify the presence of oral mucosal lesions (OMLs) and the need for complete dentures in elderly people during the Campaign for Prevention and Early Diagnosis of Oral Cancer for a period of five years in Piracicaba, Brazil. Methods: Oral clinical examinations were performed by dental surgeons previously trained according to the variables during the period of five years (2007-2011) in the 41 Basics Units of Health distributed in six areas: north, south, east, west, central and contryside. Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-Square test for trend. Results: The Campaign reached 3,452 elderly in 2007; 2,508 in 2008; 2,756 in 2009; 3,041 in 2010 and 2,217 in 2011. The need for doble complete dentures ranged from 9.9% to 18.3% being 16.8%, 12.3%, 18.3%, 13.7% and 9.9% from 2007 to 2011, respectively. And the presence of OMLs ranged from 7.3% to 1.,9% being 8.9%, 11.0%, 13.9%, 9.6% and 7.3% from 2007 to 2011, respectively. Just need for complete dentures tended to decrease over the period. Conclusion: The results revealed that the elderly still have unmet needs prostheses, despite a slight decrease over time and the importance of monitoring of oral lesions, still prevalent in all regions, with no downward trend.