Method: A retrospective study focused on the main dental clinic on the island of Upolu. A census of all patients of 65 years of age and above who visited and utilized the dental clinic of Upolu from January to June 2010 including both genders. To maintain confidentiality participants were not identified by their names by were given codes. SPSS version 13 was used to process and analyze data whereby coding was used.
Result: This study showed that only 5% of the total number of patients was the elderly, 450 from 9202 people altogether ages 65 years and above. The age group of 65-71 years of age had the most male and female who visited and utilized the services at 31% and 29% respectively. The age groups of 86-92 years of age had the least male and female who visited and utilized the dental services at respectively 1% and .2%. The most utilized service by the elderly was extraction at 44% followed by removable prosthodontic at 24%. Periodontics and endodontics were the least utilized services by the elderly being at 2% (10) and 1% (5) respectively.
Conclusion: From January to June 2010, there were 9202 patients of all ages that made use of the available dental services at the National Dental Health Service of Samoa with 5% of which were elderly patients. Of all the elderly who paid a visit, slightly more were males. The most utilized service by the elderly was ‘extraction’ at 44% followed by ‘removable prosthodontic’ at 24%. The least used dental services were periodontics and endodontics at 2% and 1% respectively.