[Dental status and prosthetics in handicapped patients]

Fifty-one highly disabled inhabitants of a Hessian rest- and nursing home (on an average age of 83 years) have been interviewed and examined with respect to the dental conditions, the need for dental treatment as well as their dental hygienics. The averaged dental status was poor. Most of the senior probands did not have any teeth, all the others would have needed dental treatment because of caries and periodontal disease. None of the inhabitants had fixed partials; the existing removable dentures--mostly worn during the day--showed functional defects. There were no major differences between those persons, who cleaned their partials their own, and those one's, who needed the help of the home's staff.