Oral health and well-being of older adults in residential aged-care facilities: issues for public health policy.

摘要

New Zealand is no exception to the global trend of population ageing. Approximately 500,000 New Zealanders (12% of the population) are aged 65 years and over, and the expectation is that this figure will exceed 1 million (21%) by the late 2020s; the fastest growing sub-group is adults aged over 85 years . In parallel with this trend is an epidemiological transition: older adults are retaining more of their own teeth and the proportion that are edentulous is reducing dramatically (Carter et al, 2004; Petersen and Yamamoto, 2005; Thomson, 1997; World Health Organization, 2006). This predisposes older adults to oral diseases: dental caries occurs at a rate over time which is similar to that of adolescents (Thomson, 2004), and the prevalence of periodontal disease is greater than any other age group (Lavigne, 2008; Chalmers and Ettinger, 2008).