It is still common sense the idea that the elderly do not need dental care because they are largely toothless and denture wearers. Thus the research question is: What is the reason that makes many elderly people do not see the dentist regularly? This study aimed to find and analyze the reason that makes the elderly, enrolled in a family health care center, do not visit the dentist regularly. It is a descriptive and exploratory with a quanti-qualitative approach using household semi-structured interviews applied to 149 elderly enrolled at a family Health Unity in Ribeirão Preto city, SP, Brazil. Data were analyzed and standardized by the Content Analysis technique and for the quantitative analysis it was performed bivariate analysis based on p<0.05. There was significant association between dentist visit and age (p=0,025), and it was observed that higher age elderly related going to the dentist few times. Some of the reasons were: fear, financial difficulties, absence of time, and absence of tooth pain and denture wear. It was concluded that these reasons are related to the social and cultural aspects that needs to be analyzed within the primary health care.
Oral health; Health of the elderly; Self concept; Primary Health Care
