Oral health and microflora in an institutionalised elderly population in Canada

A cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess the oral health of a group of elderly, long-term care, institutionalised residents in a facility in Edmonton, Canada. In addition, the oral occurrence of Candida and coliform micro-organisms was evaluated to examine the relationship between oral health status and oral prevalence of these opportunistic pathogens. The mean age of 63 examined individuals was 83.4 (+/- 17.6) years; 28.6 per cent were dentate with a DMF score of 22.4; 4.5 per cent of teeth exhibited root caries. Of the edentate, 55.5 per cent were wearing complete maxillary and mandibular dentures; 59 per cent of the maxillary dentures and 20 per cent of mandibular dentures were found to exhibit good retention and stability while the remaining prostheses were deemed to be poor; 17 per cent of individuals had neither teeth or dentures. Denture stomatitis was the most common mucosal lesion and was found amongst one third of the denture wearers. Three quarters of the residents harboured oral yeasts, 30 per cent coliforms and a significant number exhibited poor oral hygiene and oral pathoses for which remedial treatment was readily available in the form of subsidised dental care.