The 5-year incidence of caries was studied in a random sample of 60-, 70- and 80-year-old inhabitants of GÖteborg, with 69, 51 and 28 individuals in the different age groups. One aim of the study was to introduce a root caries index (DMFRS%) in which the missing root surfaces are taken into account. This study, as well as other recent studies, has shown that dental caries is the main reason for tooth extraction. The study also revealed that coronal and root caries occurred more frequently in elderly than younger people and the incidence of root caries was positively correlated with coronal caries (r = 0.3, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with the number of remaining teeth (r = 0.4, p < 0.0001). The 5-year DMFRS% increment values increased with advancing age from 2.7 involved root surfaces per 100 susceptible ones in the 60-year-olds to 4.8 in the 70-year-olds and 10.7 in the 80-year-olds. It should be mentioned, however, that only people able to come to the clinic were enrolled in the study and an analysis of the attrition bias indicated that oral health may be worse in those who are too ill to participate. The frequent utilization of dental care among the participants was reflected in the finding of several new fillings and prosthetic crowns. Most of the very elderly people with carious lesions at baseline, however, had developed new lesions at the margins of the newly made restorations.

Keywords:
Elderly subjects, Incidence, Intraoral distribution, Root caries index
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© 1997 S. Karger AG, Basel
1997
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