Arati Panchbhai

Oral Health Status and Treatment Needs in Elderly in India: Oral Care for the Elderly Arati Panchbhai

The twenty first century is facing dramatic change in demographics with enormous rise in the elderly population worldwide. The current population in India is around 1.27 billion with proportionate increase in the `65 plus` population. Continuing progress in the medical field has raised the longevity of life. The people are retaining more teeth that need special care. Poor oral health may affect the dietary intake, nutritional status, phonetics, and the sense of well-being in elderly people. The old age is compounded with chronic medical problems, medications and dependency to carry even the routine activities such as tooth cleaning which results in increased risk towards the oral ailments. The major block in oral health care of elderly would be the underestimation of oral health care need in them. This book reveals the bleak picture regarding the oral health condition in elderly, treatment needs in them and existing oral health services. The content would be useful to oral health professionals, social workers, institutions, professional organizations and insurance companies to come in joint efforts to plan strategies towards oral health services for the elderly people in India.