title: Oral health in a convenience sample of Chinese older adults living in Melbourne, Australia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present data on the dental and periodontal status of a convenience sample of 101 ambulant China-born older adults who now live in Melbourne. These older adults participated in a study to assess the prevalence of specific oral diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were interviewed in Cantonese using a structured questionnaire and received an oral examination to assess dental and periodontal status using the DMFS/T and CPI indices, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This sample was largely a dentate one (94.1%); with a mean Decayed, Filled and Missing tooth surfaces (DMFS) score of 57.5 (SD 37.9). Approximately, 80% of the dentate sample had all their restorative needs met; 25% had a sound periodontium; 41% needed oral hygiene instruction plus scaling, while 6.3% required complex periodontal therapy. Compared with existing data on the oral health of older adults in Australia, Chinese immigrant older adults appear to have lower DMFS scores, a lower number of untreated decayed surfaces, a lower prevalence of gingivitis, and less need for complex periodontal treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These tentative findings provide an initial assessment of the risk of oral diseases among a group immigrant older adults. This study highlights the need to collect relevant information in order to identify factors that influence the oral health of older immigrants to Australia.
authors.affiliation: Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. rmarino@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mariño
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Asuman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kiyak
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: Syed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naqvi
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010512:Periodontal Index; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology