Perceived Need for Dental Care Among Dentate Older Individuals in Sri Lanka

The authors assessed the perceived need for dental care among 585 older individuals, of whom 235 received a clinical oral examination. Of the 235 participants, only 171 were dentate. The present analysis is limited to this group. Of these 171 dentate adults, 43 percent perceived a need for dental care. Of this sample section, 53 percent perceived a need for dentures. Age, perceived oral health status, presence of mobile teeth, three impact items of the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) scale--namely "had a painful aching in the mouth, had difficulty in eating and that the diet had been unsatisfactory due problems with teeth, mouth or dentures"--and the total OHIP-14 score showed significant associations with perceived need for dental care in bi-variate analysis. Poor perceived oral health status emerged as the strongest predictor of perceived need for dental care in logistic regression.