Hyposalivation is the main risk factor for poor oral health status in Indonesian elderly

Aim: To analyze the effect of xerostomia and hyposalivation as risk factors for poor oral health status in Indonesian elderly. Materials and Methods: Oral health status of 158 elders in Yogyakarta, Indonesia was determined using Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified, Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index, modified Community Periodontal Index, and number of natural occluding pairs (NOP). Xerostomia was determined by Xerostomia Inventory and hyposalivation was identified by measuring whole unstimulated saliva flow. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done to analyze the possible correlation between the event of hyposalivation and xerostomia with each of the independent variables (oral health status) and to assess the simultaneous effect of hyposalivation and xerostomia for the event of poor oral hygiene (OH), respectively. Results: Periodontal pocket, high DMFT index, poor OH, ≤5 NOP, xerostomia, and hyposalivation were experienced by 41, 113, 44, 116, 94, and 40 of 158 participants, respectively. Based on the bivariate analysis between the event of xerostomia and oral health status indicators, it was found that there was a significantly different proportion of OH condition between the group of participants with and without xerostomia (P = 0.035). Conversely, the proportions of periodontal pocket and OH condition were significantly different between the group of participants with and without hyposalivation with P values of