Dental Functionality: construction and validation of an oral health indicator for institutionalized elderly persons in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

Objective: to suggest a composite indicator that identifies the oral health condition of institutionalized elderly persons. Method: an observational and cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 315 elderly persons were investigated in long-stay care facilities for the elderly in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Such individuals underwent an epidemiological evaluation of their oral health conditions, based on the DMFT index, CPI and the PAL (periodontal attachment loss) index. Factor analysis was used to identify a relatively small number of common factors by principal component analysis. Results: five oral health variables were included in factor analysis, and using the Kaiser criterion, which considers the percentage of variance explained by the factors, a single factor which together explained 79.7% of the total variance of the variables included in the analysis model was selected. This factor was analyzed and interpreted according to the dimension to which it related, and was entitled the factor of Dental Functionality. Conclusion: this factor generated an objective indicator to characterize the oral health of the elderly in long-term care facilities for the elderly of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, and represents a parameter for studies of the oral health outcomes of this elderly population. It also revealed a change in the dental profile of this population with more teeth present in the mouth and a reduction in edentulism.

Construction of a multidimensional oral health indicator for the older population in the city of Manaus-Amazonas

“…In view of the above, the oral health of older adults, when evaluated only by traditional dental indices, can be biased due to tooth loss, which impairs the accuracy of these indices 10 . Elani et al 11 , for example, demonstrated, using algorithms to assess the risk of tooth loss among adults, that the performance of models that incorporate the socioeconomic characteristic was better when compared to those based only on clinical dental indicators.…”

Construção de um indicador multidimensional de saúde bucal para a população idosa da cidade de Manaus, AM

“…Diante do exposto, a saúde bucal da pessoa idosa quando avaliada somente pelos índices dentários tradicionais pode ser enviesada devido à perda dentária, que prejudica a acurácia desses índices 10 . Elani et al 11 , por exemplo, demonstraram, utilizando algoritmos para avaliar o risco de perda dentária entre adultos, que o desempenho de modelos que incorporam a característica socioeconômica foi melhor se comparado àqueles baseados apenas em indicadores clínicos odontológicos.…”