Factors associated with missing teeth in the Brazilian elderly institutionalised population

doi:10.1111/j.1741-2358.2012.00655.x Factors associated with missing teeth in the Brazilian elderly institutionalised population Objective: Identify factors associated with missing teeth in the elderly institutionalised population in Brazil. Methodology: Cross-sectional study of elderly institutionalised Brazilians with 1192 subjects. A questionnaire was applied as well as an epidemiological survey of oral health conditions in accordance with WHO. Factorial analysis was carried out with variables related to missing teeth, as well as the Fisher's exact test, chi-squared test and multiple logistic regression. Results: Mean age was 76.3 (+/- 9.8), 53.5% (638) of subjects were women and 717 (60.2) were dependent. Mean of Decayed Missing and Filled Teeth Index (DMFT index) was 29.4 (+/- 4.9). The subjects that did not use upper and lower dentures were 61.5% (732) and 79.2% (944), respectively. Median number of missing teeth per person was 27.88 (+/- 6.8) with a mean of 4 (+/- 6.6) teeth present and 2.4 (+/- 4.5) caries-free teeth. Factors associated with missing teeth following multivariate analysis were: age, sex, self-assessment of oral health, access to health services, type of institution and area of the country. Conclusions: High level of tooth loss and low level of rehabilitation demonstrate precarious oral health. It is therefore necessary to improve institutional access mechanisms to public health facilities for the institutionalised elderly.