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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Periodontal condition of the elderly in Finland
Anna-Maija Hannele Syrjälä1, Pekka Ylöstalo, Matti Knuuttila
1Department of Periodontology, Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, Finland. Anna-Maija.Syrjala@oulu.fi
Objective:
To describe the periodontal condition of the elderly in Finland and its association with sociodemographic factors.
Material And Methods:
The study was based on a subpopulation of 1460 persons (748 dentate persons) aged > or =65 years who participated in a nationally representative Health 2000 Survey in Finland. The data for this study were collected by means of an interview and a clinical oral examination.
Results:
Seventy-three percent of the participants in this study had gingival bleeding in at least one sextant. The proportion of participants with no teeth with deepened periodontal pockets > or =4 mm deep was 31%. Twenty-eight percent of the participants had one to three teeth with deepened periodontal pockets > or =4 mm deep, 15% had four to six and 26% had > or =7. At the individual level, a high number of teeth with deepened periodontal pockets was associated with sociodemographic factors such as high age, intermediate or higher education, and living in a rural area.
Conclusion:
At a national level, the greatest need for periodontal treatment presently derives from persons aged 65-74 years and/or those with low education, due to their high representation in the elderly population.
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