Epidemiologic Changes in Older Adult Periodontal Disease¹

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This paper reviews some past and current findings regarding the relationship between age and periodontal diseases in adults and speculates on the implications of more recent findings that show a lower prevalence of deep pocketing than previous studies and no dramatic increases in older adults. A conceptual framework for designing studies and analyzing data is presented. Using prevalence data from a household survey of older adults in Iowa, a multivariate analysis resulted in 41 percent of the variance in 3 + mm pickets being explained by dental, medical, and behavioral factors. If these correlates turn out to be risk factors, it seems that periodontal diseases must be considered in a larger context than is employed in most epidemiological and clinical investigations.