Oral health status and treatment requirements of different residential homes in Istanbul: A comparative study

The purpose of this study was to investigate dental/denture status of the elderly people living in different residential homes. In 346 elderly people from different residential homes two belonging to the state (Group 1 and Group 2) and one supported by private foundations (Group 3) were examined. Sixty percent of participants were edentulous and 22.8% of participants had no complete dentures which 9 (7.4%) of them were in Groups 1 and 2. Over 50% of the participants had no or low income and 45% of participants were illiterate. All of the participants who were illiterate and had low income were in Group 1 and Group 2. Oral hygiene was good for 15.4% and only 19.4% of participants removed their dentures overnight. Denture stomatitis was observed in 61.7% of subjects. Significant correlation was found between denture hygiene and age of participant, general health status, denture stomatitis, and overnight denture wear (p = 0.001). The decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) scores were 25.52 ± 3.37. There was statistically significant differences between groups for DMFT scores (p = 0.016). Dental health education is also needed focusing on the special needs of this neglected and socioeconomically deprived population to improve their quality of life.