title: Oral health in postmenopausal Turkish women.
abstract: The most common condition affecting all women is menopause and most women spend one third of their lives after the menopause. Menopause is accompanied by a number of characteristic physical changes, some of which are manifested in the oral cavity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to evaluate the oral health status of a group of menopausal women who visited a menopause clinic in Ankara, Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 348 women, aged 44-65 (mean 52.17+/-4.67), who spontaneously attended the menopause clinic at Hacettepe University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, (between 1998 and 2000) were interviewed and examined by a trained dentist over a two-year period. Their oral status was determined by the same dentist by using the follwing indices on the basis of WHO criteria: Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT); Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth Surfaces (DMFS); Root, Decayed, Filled (RDF); and Community Periodontal Index (CPI). Oral complaints and denture status was also assessed. The data were analysed by means of difference between groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 23% of the women were using hormones and 77% were not. The most significant symptom was oral dryness with 48.8% in the hormone users and 68.3% in the non-users (p < 0.05). A total of 36.3% of the hormone users and 39.5% of the non-users were edentulous (p > 0.05). DMFT, DMFS and CPI values of non-users were higher than the hormone users (p < 0.001). RDF values did not show any significant difference between hormone users and non users (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that menopause might play a role in the oral status of women. The use of hormones seemed to affect oral health positively.
authors.affiliation: Hacettepe University, School of Dentistry, Department of Restorative Dentistry, Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey. yalcinflz@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Filiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yalcin
authors.forename: Sevil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gurgan
authors.forename: Gulsun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003778:Dentures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010512:Periodontal Index; D017698:Postmenopause; D015995:Prevalence; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology