title: Perceived need for dental care among dentate older individuals in Sri Lanka.
abstract: The authors assessed the perceived need for dental care among 585 older individuals, of whom 235 received a clinical oral examination. Of the 235 participants, only 171 were dentate. The present analysis is limited to this group. Of these 171 dentate adults, 43 percent perceived a need for dental care. Of this sample section, 53 percent perceived a need for dentures. Age, perceived oral health status, presence of mobile teeth, three impact items of the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) scale--namely "had a painful aching in the mouth, had difficulty in eating and that the diet had been unsatisfactory due problems with teeth, mouth or dentures"--and the total OHIP-14 score showed significant associations with perceived need for dental care in bi-variate analysis. Poor perceived oral health status emerged as the strongest predictor of perceived need for dental care in logistic regression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Dental Health, Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. lilanie@pdn.ac.lk
authors.forename: Lilani
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ekanayake
authors.forename: Irosha
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Perera
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016321:Dental Care for Aged / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D010465:Perception; D011788:Quality of Life; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D013188:Sri Lanka; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014086:Tooth Mobility / Q000523:psychology; D014098:Toothache / Q000523:psychology