Oral Health Needs of Elderly Persons Who Visited Dental Clinics in Nigeria .

Abstract

Objective: To assess the differences in oral health care 
needs of the elderly who visited dental clinics in Nigeria.

Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive cross sectional study of elderly persons (60 years and older) 
who received oral health care at the dental center of the 
University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin 
City in Southern Nigeria and the dental clinic of the 
National Hospital Abuja (NHA), Federal Capital 
Territory in Northern Nigeria. The data of interest 
collated from the retrieved records were gender, age 
and diagnosis made. The patients were categorized 
based on their age into 60- 64 years (the new elderly), 
65 -74 years (the transition group) and >75 years age 
group (the old elderly).

Results: The most prevalent treatment need of the 
patients was periodontal treatment (57.6%) followed by 
treatment for caries and its sequelae (40.2%). The least 
recorded treatment need was treatment for dentine 
hypersensitivity (2.2%) followed by ill-fitting denture 
(2.6%). Need for replacement of missing teeth was 
noted in 14.4% of the patients. Treatment needs related 
to replacement of missing teeth was not statistically 
significantly associated with gender. A higher 
proportion (46.2%) of the study population in the 
southern hospital required treatment related to caries 
and its sequelae compared to 30.0% in the FCT and this 
was statistically significant (P=0.009).

Conclusion: There is variation in the oral health care 
needs of the elderly based on age, gender, and sociocultural differences.