Abstract

DURAN-NAPOLITANO, Doris et al. Oral Health perception in elderly from districts with extreme development in Chile. CES odontol. [online]. 2016, vol.29, n.1, pp.05-12. ISSN 0120-971X.

Introduction: In the elderly oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) perception is particularly important because of the accumulated impairment and lack of prioritized health actions for them. Despite group-specific results there is no national study that refers differences between districts. Objetive: To compare the perception of OHRQoL in the elderly who attend to primary health care in Puerto Saavedra and Vitacura. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed to 270 older adults of both sexes, 57 from Puerto Saavedra and 213 from Vitacura. Geriatric oral health asessment index (GOHAI) was used to measure OHRQoL. Descriptive univariate and bivariate analyses was perfomed. Contrast hypothesis tests were selected according to the nature of the variables and statistical analyses was performed in Stata13.0. Results: 77.4% perceived their OHRQoL as negative. Mean GOHAI score were similar in both districts. Puerto Saavedra showed lower scores, the difference was not statistically significative (p>0.05). Negative tendency was observed in females groups for both districts. Conclusions: OHRQoL is perceived as negative regardless of age and residence districts. This is coherent with the national scenery of high burden of oral disease and limited access to oral-health care wich is aggravated in older adults due to accumulated damage and historical absence of protection in oral health.

Keywords : Quality of life; Elderly; Oral health.

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