Prevalence of root caries in patients aged over 55 years and living in social welfare and family homes

Introduction. Progress of medicine and effects of prevention result in more and more people keeping their own teeth for a longer period of time. This creates a new and increasingly significant challenge for a dentist to address the possibility of preventing, diagnosing and undertaking effective treatment of root caries. Aim of the study. To assess the frequency of root caries and its severity in patients aged over 55 years. Material and method. The study group consisted of 226 patients (110 men and 116 women) in the study group. The age of the patients ranged from 55 to 101 years. Clinical evaluation of teeth was done at one visit. Based on the results, the number of teeth and/or surfaces were determined and analysed: healthy with and without gingival recessions, with primary root caries, restorations with secondary caries and properly filled cavities. Root caries severity stage was evaluated using Billings’ classification. Results. It was found that the patients living in the social welfare homes (SWH) have got statistically fewer teeth than the residents of family homes (FH). In the first group (SWH), fewer surfaces with recession and with primary root caries were found than in the FH group; the former had no surfaces with proper fillings and in the latter only 2.1% of all fillings were proper. There were no statistically significant differences in the number of restored root surfaces with secondary caries between the two groups Using Billings’ modified classification, root caries was found to be statistically slightly more przyfrequent in the FH group than in the SWH (p<0.001). Root caries with the highest severity was identified statistically more often in the SWH group as compared with the FH group (p<0.001).