Periodontal disease among New England elders.
Much of the existing oral epidemiologic literature is limited by having inadequate numbers of the oldest-old in their sample, having used rudimentary periodontal measures, or not having examined probability samples of community-dwelling elders. The New England Elders Dental Study (NEEDS) is the first study that documents the periodontal disease status of a probability sample of 554 adults aged 70 to 96 living within an entire U.S. Public Health Service region. The NEEDS study revealed substantially higher estimates of periodontal destruction among older adults than previous national studies would suggest. These results are consistent with several papers in the literature that suggest that periodontal disease rates are on the increase in older adults. In the coming decades dentistry should be prepared to meet the increasing need and demand for periodontal services in the growing older population.
Fox
C H
CH
Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Canton, MA, USA.
Jette
A M
AM
McGuire
S M
SM
Feldman
H A
HA
Douglass
C W
CW
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003728:Dental Calculus / Q000453:epidemiology; D016321:Dental Care for Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005884:Gingival Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009511:New England / Q000453:epidemiology; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000453:epidemiology; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data