Oral health and quality of life of the elderly.

Resumo

Introduction: The Brazilian population has been aging rapidly since the early 1960s, when the age structure of the population began to change. In 1996, only 5% of the population was 60 years old or more, while today they are 9% of the population.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess oral health conditions of the elderly who live in Vila dos Idosos, collecting information about their condition of life, and trying to correlate how much oral health can compromise the quality of life and autonomy of these elderly people.

Methods: Data collection was carried out through questionnaires and clinical examination; elderly people over 60 years old, of both sexes, were interviewed. All interviews were conducted in the Vila dos Idosos itself.

Results: The results show that tooth loss or the use of inadequate prostheses has negative impacts on quality of life, especially with regard to worry, stress resulting from problems in the mouth and shame. It was obtained in the research that, in general, oral health in the elderly is fragile, requiring greater attention from health professionals; however, when self-perceived oral health is analyzed, the vast majority assess it as very good or good.

Conclusion: The most important finding of the study was that, although the data obtained indicate a fragile oral health that reveals a commitment to quality of life, the vast majority of the elderly evaluated their own health positively. This may indicate that, for this population, health oral health is dissociated from health.