Oral health status of older adults in Arizona: results from the Arizona Elder Study.

This study was undertaken to compare oral health status of independent community-dwelling elders with those using long-term-care services. Clinical examinations and self-reported sociodemographic data were collected for 2927 older adults living independently, using home-care services, or living in nursing facilities. Mean age of dentate participants (n = 2021) was 72.2 years (range, 50-103 years); mean number of teeth, 18.16; mean DFS, 28.86; and mean RCI, 15.23. In multivariate analyses, receiving home-care services or living in a nursing facility was significantly predictive of poorer oral health status with respect to both coronal and root caries. This was also true for ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic-white. We concluded that, in a large, multi-ethnic sample, direct comparisons highlight significant unmet treatment need among users of long-term-care services, compared with independent older adults living in the same communities.

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