title: Oral health care status of homebound elderly in Japan.
abstract: We examined the present conditions of oral health care in order to contribute towards an effective system to provide oral health care for homebound elderly in Japan. A questionnaire was mailed to homebound elderly subjects (n=908) and returned by mail. A 73.6% response was achieved. The questionnaire was designed to elicit information with respect to the general condition of the subjects and independence of oral health care. About 70% of the subjects were chair- or bed-bound. Among all subjects, 37.6% required partial or full assistance on toothbrushing, 55.6% on cleaning dentures and 46.7% on eating. The degree of oral health care tended to be poor for chair- or bed-bound elderly compared with independent or house-bound elderly. Homebound elderly with lower Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADL) required more support for oral health care compared with elderly with higher ADL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dentistry, Hiroshima University School of Dentistry, Hiroshima, Japan. mark@ipc.hiroshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takaesu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyatake
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shinsho
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujioka
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016321:Dental Care for Aged; D003778:Dentures; D004032:Diet; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006304:Health Status; D006699:Home Care Services; D018577:Homebound Persons / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D012648:Self Care; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014099:Toothbrushing