title: Oral diagnostics: an integral component to geriatric health care.
abstract: Aging is inevitable, every day we live we age. The mouth is referred to as a mirror of overall health, reinforcing that oral health is an integral part of general health. Oral health reflects overall well being for the elderly population. Compromised oral health may be a risk factor for systemic diseases commonly occurring in age. Diagnosis and proper treatment is essential for healthy aging. Timely diagnosis, appropriate treatment and regular follow-up of both oral and systemic diseases are a prerequisite for active aging. Oral diagnostics is a revolutionary development with high potential to replace other investigative modalities. Changing demographics, including the increase in life expectancy and the growing numbers of elderly, has focused attention on the need for dental research activities to be expanded for geriatric dentistry. This paper is aimed to shed light on the growing elderly population and their ailments. It also aims to create awareness among health care providers about oral diagnostics and their application in geriatrics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Institute of Dental Sciences , Bareilly, UP , India.
authors.forename: Mallika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kishore
authors.forename: Sunil R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Panat
authors.forename: Ananda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Choudhary
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Upadhyay
authors.forename: Nupur
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Abhijeet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alok
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003945:Diagnosis, Oral / Q000379:methods*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005850:Geriatric Dentistry / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D019456:Health Transition; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health