Root caries experience among geriatric population residing in old age homes in chennai city

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and distribution of root caries in a selected elderly population in old age homes in Chennai.Subjects both male and female above 60 years of age group were included in the study. Completely edentulous seniors were not included in the study. Kartz Root caries index (1980) was used for assessing root caries. Root caries was recorded on tooth with exposed root surface. Radiographs were not used in this study. The data collected was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 10.0. p value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.200 older individuals with mean age of 70 years actively participated in this study, of which 56.5 % were males (113) and 43.5% (87) were females. 61-70 years age group of the study population had mean root caries score of 0.5 ± 2.0. Whereas 71-80 years had mean root caries score of 1.0 ± 6.8. 81-90 years showed mean root caries score of 3.4 ± 12.05.These observations were not statistically significant. A mean root caries score of 0.4 ± 2.0 was found in Chennai and females had a mean root caries score of 1.5 ± 7.5.