Faculty Articles
Title
Oral health status of a long term care, veteran population
ISBN or ISSN
0301-5661
Publication Title
Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
Volume
233
Publication Date / Copyright Date
1-1-1993
Last Page
227
DOI Number
10.1111/j.1600-0528.1993.tb00762.x
Abstract
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates the largest, integrated health care system in the United States of America. The projected need for long-term-care in the VA health care system parallels an expected increase in need for care in the United States, but precedes the need for care in the general population by 25-30 yr. The VA's Office of Dentistry, in an effort to estimate the resource requirements of this swelling group of veterans, initiated in 1986-7 an oral health survey of long-term care patients. The overall goals were to describe the oral health status of VA nursing home care units (NHCU) residents and to develop a methodology for estimating future dental health services utilization. This study describes the oral health status of the study population. Demographic and oral health data were collected for 650 long-term care residents of six VA NHCUs between October 1986 and July 1987. Data were collected on sociodemographic status, medical history, dental caries, periodontal diseases, oral soft tissue pathology, and the presence of dental prostheses. Caries and periodontal disease were evaluated using the United States National Institute of Dental Research Survey of Employed Adults and Seniors protocols. The oral health status of the population is described using DMF and ESI indices, the prevalence of oral lesions, levels of tooth loss, oral hygiene scores, and the status of existing dentures. Findings show moderate levels of untreated dental caries and periodontal disease and significant tooth loss which increased with age. A need for preventive therapy, restorative dentistry, conservative periodontal therapy, and prosthodontic care was evident.
Disciplines
Dentistry
Keywords
dentistry, epidemiology, oral health status, geriatric, survey
NSUWorks Citation
Weyant, Robert J.; Jones, Judith A.; Hobbins, Melody; Niessen, Linda C.; Adelson, Richard; and Rhyne, Robert R., "Oral health status of a long term care, veteran population" (1993). Faculty Articles. 11.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_cdm_facarticles/11
