Psychosocial and functional impact of dental condition in hospitalized elderly

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychosocial and functional impact of oral health status on elderly residents of long-term care hospitals in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Methods: All patients aged 60 and over, with comprehension and expression capacity were submitted to a dental examination and interview after informed agreement. The variables studied were age, gender, education level, number of teeth and use of complete denture. Data on the impact were collected using a modified Geriatric Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). The results were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test (p<0.05). Results: Of the 35 elderly evaluated, 55% were male. The median age of the patients was 72.7 years (± 8.7). There was higher prevalence of the individuals with only incomplete elementary schooling (46%). 74% of the participants were edentulous and 62% of them didn't use total dentures. A number of 20 teeth or more was detected in 22% of the dentate. The GOHAI were not significantly different regarding education level, age group, gender and use of complete denture (p>0.05). GOHAI median for the edentulous elderly was 26. There was no difference between GOHAI for the bearers of superior and inferior total denture (27) and the ones that didn't use denture (26). Participants having 20 teeth or more showed significantly higher GOHAI (33) as compared to participants that had 1-20 teeth (29) (p<0.05). Conclusions: In hospitalized patients, the total loss of the teeth didn't take to unfavorable impact, could be reflecting the adaptation capacity of these individuals. The use of total dentures didn't improve the psychosocial and functional impact. The maintenance of teeth should be the goal to improve the quality of life of the elderly people.