Anil Joshi

Complete edentulism and denture use for elders in New England

The purpose of this study was to collect information about the oral health of a representative group of elders in the New England states. This study provides the most current descriptive analysis of completely edentulous noninstitutionalized elders to date. In-home examinations and interviews were conducted for a representative sample of elders over 70 years of age. The oral examinations and interviews were conducted by calibrated dentists and trained interviewers, respectively. Of 1156 study participants, 424 (36.7%) were edentulous. Edentulous rates were similar for men and women and were negatively related to levels of education and income. Of the completely edentulous individuals, 89.9% had maxillary and mandibular complete dentures. Most of these dentures (83.2%) were worn during the day. More than one third of the respondents reported wearing one or both of their dentures while sleeping at night. For 77 of the completely edentulous individuals, examination revealed denture irritations, most of which were on the hard palate.

Prevalence and intraoral distribution of coronal and root caries in middle-aged and older adults.

This work describes the prevalence and intraoral distribution of coronal and root caries in 326 predominantly white, educated, middle-aged and older adults. Study participants were recruited from Tufts Geriatric Outreach Program, Nutritional Status Study (NSS), and the Forsyth Root Caries Study. Eighty-five percent of participants reported visiting their dentist in the last year. The median number of teeth was 21 in the 65+ age-group, and 40% of participants had coronal caries and 33% had root carious lesions. The mean coronal and root caries (DFS) was higher and the proportion of decayed surfaces to all decayed and filled surfaces (%D/DFS) was lower than in other comparable studies. A comparative analysis of intraoral distribution of coronal and root caries and their relation with age is discussed.