State of the dentition and their impact in the capacity of the elders for the performance of their daily activities

Objective. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of the dental state on the capacity of elderly individuals to carry out their daily activities during the previous 6 months.Material and Methods. We conducted a transversal study in Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS)-insured elderly persons residing in southwestern Mexico City. We carried out home interviews to gather sociodemographic data, use of oral health services, problems in effecting daily actions, and their relationship with the dentition state over the past 6 months, utilizing the Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) index. Later, three Oral Health professionals trained in determining dentition state according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria performed a clinical examination on each elderly subject.Results. We studied 540 elderly individuals. The prevalence of elderly persons with problems in carrying out their daily activities was 21.5%. The main problems in daily activities were present in eating (14.4%), speaking (8.7%), in not becoming irritated (5.4%), brushing their teeth (5.0%), and in enjoying contact with people (4.4%). There is a correlation of positive OIDP among number of teeth lost and the decayed missing filled (DMF-T) index (p <0.05) and of negative OIDP in number of functional and filled teeth. Conclusions. Dentition state in the elderly has repercussions in the capacity to carry out daily activities, with quality of life most seriously affected with regard to eating and enjoying food, as well as in correct pronunciation.