Dental status of the Iranian elderly: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Tooth loss is an important health dilemma. The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of dental status and edentulism in the elderly residing in Iran. An electronic search of the literature was carried out on Farsi and English databases using the following keywords: edentulism, dental caries, elderly, oral and dental health, edentulous, geriatric, caries, dentate, Iran, and prevalence. Articles that met the eligibility criteria according to the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies In Epidemiology) checklist were selected and entered into the meta-analysis. Data were analyzed using Stata 13.1 software, and the metan and metareg packages for used for the meta-regression and meta-analysis. Of the 172 articles retrieved, 154 were used after eliminating the duplicates, and their full texts were read. Of the 4574 participants evaluated in 13 studies, 2227 (48.7%) were completely edentulous (95% confidence interval [CI]: .49-.49). Of the 4423 participants evaluated in 12 studies, 2286 (51.7%) were dentate (95% CI: .52-.52). The mean number of remaining teeth was 5.73 (95% CI: 5.73-5.73) in six studies conducted on 2782 participants. Approximately 50% of the elderly in Iran are completely edentulous. Efforts should be made to improve dental care instruction, provision of dental care services in the public sector, and dental insurance coverage to promote the dental status of elderly Iranians.