OBJECTIVE: To assess the oral health status of the institutionalized elderly in the city of Goiânia in the state of Goiás, Brazil. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was carried out based on the SB-2000 Project undertaken by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The sample was formed by people aged 60 years and above (n=289), living in Goiânia in public and philanthropic institutions for the elderly during 2003 (n=10). Conditions investigated included dental caries, use of and need for prostheses, periodontal status, and soft tissue lesions. RESULTS: The age of the elderly involved in the study ranged from 60 to 103 years. Prevalence of caries and edentulousness was 100% and 69.20% respectively. The mean DMFT (decayed, missing and filled teeth) totaled 30.17% and, of these, tooth extraction was the main component. Nearly half (49.48%) of the sample was using prostheses and 80.28% were in need of some form of it. The most common type of prosthesis was complete denture: 45.33% of the individuals were using them in the upper and 24.57% in the lower maxilla; whilst 59.17% and 51.21% needed them in the upper and lower maxilla respectively. According to the Community Periodontal Index (CPI), only 3 of the elderly (3.37%) had all sextants sound. The most serious condition was calculus, found in 55.06% of individuals and in 29.02% of the sextants. Regarding the Attachment Loss Index (ALI), the most common condition was loss from 0 to 3mm in 37.08% of the individuals and in 24.04% of the sextants. Soft tissue lesions were found in 13.49% of the elderly. CONCLUSION: The oral health status of institutionalized elderly in Goiânia is poor, mainly due to the high prevalence of caries and edentulism.
Elderly; Oral health; Epidemiology
