The Prevalence of Intraoral Conditions and the Complexity of Dental Services for Older People in Chai Nam Subdistrict, Wang Thong District, Phitsanulok.

Abstract This study was a descriptive cross sectional study aimed to determine prevalence of intraoral conditionsand to assess the complexity of dental services in the elderly so that information could be used in preparing plansfor dealing with the oral health situation in the aging society. The study was conducted in Chai Nam Subdistrict,Wang Thong District, Phitsanulok Province during October 2018 to February 2019.The study sample was 370elderly people aged 6 0 years old and over. Data was collected by examining oral conditions and interviewingpersonal information about oral health.The study results showed that the sample mean age was 70.2 ± 7.1 years. Considering their activities ofdaily living (ADL) index, 85.4% were social-bound, 10.8% were bed-bound and 3.8% were home-bound. Among allparticipants,67.6% had underlying disease. The average number of functional teeth was 12.5 ± 7.9 teeth/person.The mean of DMFT was 18.7 ± 7.8 teeth/person. Total tooth loss was 10.5%. The mean of the oral portion withteeth is equal to is 4.4 ± 2.0 portion/person 87.8% of participants had gingivitis and 74.3% had periodontitis. oralhygiene of samples at low, fair and good levels was 62.7%, 22.1% and 4.8%, respectively. The mean of toothwear at the incisal, occlusal and cervical area were 4.3 ± 3.8, 3.0 ± 3.5 and 2.1 ± 2.5 teeth/person respectively.Oral tissue abnormalities was 9 .7 % . Positive mouth mirrors stuck test was 6 .8 % . The sample group has asufficient medical history to plan a dental treatment and does not have legal and ethical barriers. In detail, sampleswith ability to cooperate fully were 95.9%, have sufficient communication ability 94.6%, no restrictions on access toservices 85.4 % and severe oral risk factors 61.4%. Overall, the elderly in bed-bound group were different fromother groups which had different effect on the preparation of dental services from the first two groups.The bed-bound group had a high level of complexity in receiving dental care. There were significantdifferences between complexity in bed-bound group with those in social-bound and home-bound group. Therefore,different dental service models should be developed, such as providing home dental services for the elderly ifnecessary, preliminary screening from a multidisciplinary team of family doctors. In addition to treatment planningamong the elderly, preventive measures for oral diseases should be emphasized to the pre-aging group, bothproviding knowledge on the routine practice to reduce the risk factors of disease and receiving preventive dentalservices by dental personnel in conjunction with oral health promotion activities in the same time. Keywords: Oral health status, Complexity, Elderly, Social-bound, Home-bound, Bed-bound