OBJECTIVES: To examine the association
between denture wearing and use of dental
services, oral function limitations, and
medical and cognitive status in a
community-based cohort of rural older adults
enrolled in an epidemiological study.
DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was
part of a larger cohort study, the Monongahela
Valley Independent Elders Survey. Dental data
were collected during the fifth wave of
assessments (10 years after the start of the
study in 1987).
SETTING: Monongahela
Valley, a rural western Pennsylvania
community.
PARTICIPANTS: The 805
participants were English-speaking
community-dwelling (noninstitutionalized)
persons, aged 73 and older, with at least a
sixth grade education.
MEASUREMENTS: A
questionnaire was used to collect data on
denture-wearing status, oral function
limitations, and recency of the last dental
visit. Other data collected included
demographics, self-rated health, medication
usage, depression, cognitive status using the
Mini-Mental State Examination, and
self-reports of weight loss and appetite.
Results: There were 44.7% of participants who
had full dentures. Those with complete
dentures were more likely to complain of oral
function limitation, report poor health
status, and take prescription medications.
Additionally, 93.6% of those with complete
dentures had not seen a dentist in more than 1
year.
CONCLUSION: Denture wearing and
edentulism are common in older patients and
can be related to poor quality of life and
risk for undiagnosed oral disease and may be a
marker for other medical comorbidities.
Geriatricians need to include oral health
status evaluations and understand that
attention to the oral cavity should be part of
an older adult's care.