Dental health attitudes of older adults living in urban areas in West Pomerania, NW Poland vs. their dentition status expressed in DMFT

Abstract

Introduction: Assessment of dental health attitudes among older people in the region of West Pomerania, Poland, and a comparison with their dental status shown by the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index. Material and methods: The study involved 294 people aged 65-74 years living in West Pomerania, NW Poland. The study was conducted in the city of Szczecin and the towns of Łobez and Police in 2014-2015. Interviews with the participants provided information on their health attitudes. Clinical examinations evaluated their dentition to produce a DMFT index. Results: The largest group of respondents (106 people, 36%) visited the dentist once a year. Only 50.3% (n = 148) visited the dentist because of a follow-up. As many as 3.7% of patients used a toothbrush less than once a day or not at all, while 6.8% replaced their toothbrush less than once a year or not at all. Only 20.4% of the respondents cleaned their interdental spaces. The mean number of missing teeth, and the DMFT index were higher among older adults with the lowest level of health attitudes. Conclusions: The examined older adults in West Pomerania showed inadequate dental health attitudes. Only a fraction reported a habit of cleaning interdental spaces. In general, health attitudes had a significant impact on the dental health of the examined older adults. This paper shows the need for systematic, standardised, and reproducible epidemiological studies in older adults.