The Subjective Health and Preserving Teeth of Elderly Patients Receiving Periodontal Maintenance / Supportive Periodontal Therapy

The average life span of people in Japan has reached a high level in the world because of the progress of medicine and the improvement of living environments. Meanwhile, lifestyle related disease have also increased along with the rapidly aging population, and therefore, the growth of medical costs and the number of those who require nursing care have become social concerns. As for tooth and oral hygiene, maintenance therapy and improvement of oral function, in addition to the prevention of loss of teeth, periodontal diseases and dental caries, greatly contribute to a comfortable and healthy living. Therefore, the author et al. discussed the relationship between the preserving teeth and subjective health of those receiving periodontal maintenance therapy / supportive periodontal therapy treatment who were 65 or older, and they also discussed the effectiveness of maintaining periodontal health and inhibiting l0ss of teeth of those receiving the treatments. As a result, the numbers of their preserving teeth and degree of masticatory satisfaction were clearly higher than those of other researches. It suggests that masticatory satisfaction can be obtained by l0sing fewer teeth from periodontal maintenance therapy / supportive periodontal therapy.As for the subjective health, those from the group receiving periodontal maintenance therapy / supportive periodontal therapy had a higher probability of bel0nging to a healthy group, and those of health group were physically stronger than those of the unhealthy group. They also tended to have a regular rhythm in everyday life. However, no difference was observed to be caused by the number of remaining teeth, and preserving tooth and subjective health did not coincide.