A study of occlusion in elderly Japanese over 80 years with at least 20 teeth

The purpose of this study was to identify the occlusal status of elderly Japanese over 80 years with at least 20 teeth.

The study enrolled 76 elderly Japanese (44 male, 32 female) with a mean age of 82 years and an average of 25.7 remaining teeth. The study consisted of intra-oral examination, intra-oral and facial photographs, radiographs and impressions for study casts.

No gender difference was observed in age or number of remaining teeth. Anteroposterior occlusal relationship was characterised by maxillary protrusion in 67.6%, acceptable overjet in 31.0%, and anterior crossbite in 1.4%. Vertically, deep bite was noted in 33.8%, acceptable overbite in 64.8%, and open bite in 1.4%. Most of the subjects had either Angle class I (68.4%) or class II (25.7%) canine relationship. Only 3.9% of the subjects had upper anterior crowding. Lower anterior crowding was observed in 23.7%, but tended not to be severe.

These results indicate that Japanese who attained the goal of '8020' have a relatively good occlusion.