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Oral health in a convenience sample of Chinese older adults living in Melbourne, Australia

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

To present data on the dental and periodontal status of a convenience sample of 101 ambulant China-born older adults who now live in Melbourne. These older adults participated in a study to assess the prevalence of specific oral diseases.

Methods

Participants were interviewed in Cantonese using a structured questionnaire and received an oral examination to assess dental and periodontal status using the DMFS/T and CPI indices, respectively.

Results

This sample was largely a dentate one (94.1%); with a mean Decayed, Filled and Missing tooth surfaces (DMFS) score of 57.5 (SD 37.9). Approximately, 80% of the dentate sample had all their restorative needs met; 25% had a sound periodontium; 41% needed oral hygiene instruction plus scaling, while 6.3% required complex periodontal therapy. Compared with existing data on the oral health of older adults in Australia, Chinese immigrant older adults appear to have lower DMFS scores, a lower number of untreated decayed surfaces, a lower prevalence of gingivitis, and less need for complex periodontal treatment.

Conclusion

These tentative findings provide an initial assessment of the risk of oral diseases among a group immigrant older adults. This study highlights the need to collect relevant information in order to identify factors that influence the oral health of older immigrants to Australia.

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Notes

  1. In people 30 years and older the M-component of the DMFT index includes teeth missing due to dental diseases, but also for other reasons (periodontal diseases, trauma, etc.) (World Health Organisation 1997). Therefore, the DMFS/DMFT should be interpreted with caution in the elderly.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partially funded by a grant received from the Australian Dental Research Foundation (ADRF). The authors would like to acknowledge the support received from the Chinese Health Foundation of Australia (CHFA) and the participants in this study. In particular we would like to acknowledge Ms. Mei Tim Yu for assisting with data collection.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Correspondence to Rodrigo Mariño.

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Mariño, R., Morgan, M., Kiyak, A. et al. Oral health in a convenience sample of Chinese older adults living in Melbourne, Australia. Int J Public Health 57, 383–390 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0248-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0248-6

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