Saúde oral dos idosos que frequentam o Convento Santo Antônio no Rio de Janeiro

In the last years, the elderly population has been growing substantially in Rio de Janeiro’s city. The objective of this work was to evaluate the oral health of elderly people in Rio de Janeiro downtown. A clinical examination was performed in 263 individuals, frequent visitors of Santo Antonio’s monastery, using the WHO (World Health Organization) evaluation form (1997); as well as the communal periodontal index and the CPOD index of all elderly people, such as edentulism. The questionnaire regarding household income and brushing habits was applied to this group. Among the participants, 45.62% presented periodontal disease. Edentulism was high. Among the remaining teeth, 13.9% presented caries. The clinical condition of the examined elderly people was considered poor.