SALIVARY FLOW RATE, ORAL YEAST COLONIZATION AND DENTAL STATUS IN INSTITUTIONALIZED AND NON-INSTITUTIONALIZED ELDERLY

Irena Glažar
2016 Acta Clinica Croatica  
Elderly people, especially those institutionalized in long-term care facilities, are at risk of various oral diseases. Th e aim of the study was to determine the incidence of hyposalivation and colonization/oral fungal infection of oral cavity with yeasts, as well as dental status in institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly. Th e study included 280 institutionalized and 61 non-institutionalized elderly people. Salivary fl ow rate, oral colonization with yeasts/oral infection and
more » ... l status were assessed and compared between the groups. Th e institutionalized elderly had a signifi cantly lower salivary fl ow rate (p=0.035). Oral colonization with yeasts was more frequently found in institutionalized elderly (p<0.001) as compared with non-institutionalized elderly. A negative correlation was found between decreased salivary fl ow rate and oral yeast colonization and oral fungal infection in both the institutionalized (rs=-0.58; p<0.05) and non-institutionalized (rs=-0.52; p<0.05) groups. A signifi cant diff erence in DMFT index was observed between the two groups (p<0.001). A negative correlation between decreased salivary fl ow rate and dental status was found in both the institutionalized (rs=-0.22; p<0.05) and non-institutionalized (rs=-0.56; p<0.05) groups. Th e results revealed a signifi cantly higher level of hyposalivation and oral yeast colonization and poorer dental status in the institutionalized group as compared with the non-institutionalized group of elderly people.
doi:10.20471/acc.2016.55.03.06 pmid:29045101 fatcat:ph7vtwd4knaztnvp6qg35ws34e