Abstract
A survey about oral health complaints can be used as an indicator to study the health needs in a specific elderly group. In this context, the present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the most frequent complaints of elderly concerning oral cavity conditions, and associated with age, gender and schooling. In an elderly population enrolled at a Family Health Nucleus, interviews were carried out with a structured household survey for data collection. A bivariate statistical analysis was conducted. The interviewed population was mostly represented by 65.5% of female elderly. Most of the population was 60 to 69 years old (46.7%), with low schooling. There were almost the same frequencies of complaints in both sexes. The most frequent complaints were halitosis, dry mouth and problems related to temporomandibular joint. There was no statistical significance between complaints and age, but there was statistical significance association between halitosis and schooling (p=0.011). The results suggested that self-perception of oral health conditions were essential to some oral health complaints, and there is a lot to study about this issue. This study showed that there was a large number of complaints of elders involving different oral organs as joints and glands.
Key words:
Health Services Needs and Demand; Aged; Oral Health.; Epidemiology; Descriptive; Cross-Sectional Studies; Statistical Analysis. Elderly's health; Oral complaints; Ribeirão Preto city-SP