Patología de la mucosa oral en los ancianos institucionalizados españoles

Abstract

Objective: To carry out a cross-section study into oral mucosa pathology in elderly persons living in Spanish residences. Design of the study: We ramdomly selected 3282 elderly persons from this group. The criteria followed were those of the WHO and the ICD-DA. Results and conclusions: 39,8% of the Spanish elderly living in residences exhibit a lesion of some type in the oral mucosa. There were no statistically significant differences between men and women, but there were indeed such differences where age was concerned, with lesions more prevalent as age increased. Dental prostheses were associated with a higher incidence of lesions. The subgroup with prostheses exhibited three times the prevalence of the subgroup without (60,1-18,5%). The variable associated most closely with lesions was the state of the prostheses. Of those elderly whose prostheses were defective, 73,9% suffered lesions, as opposed to 32,5% of those with prostheses in good condition. The most prevalent alteration was prosthetic stomatitis (21,4%), followed by commissural cheilitis (20,4%).