Aging population or elderly populations must be seen as a direct result of successful development programs in nutrition, health, clean drinking water and sanitation that are very important in reducing serious infections. However, the rapid growth of the elderly population also presents various challenges, such as the increasing number of people with degenerative diseases including hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus type 2, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Indonesian people today hope to live an average of 71 years, higher from 1945, which is at 45 years old when independence was declared. It is an important achievement, but we also have to predict the consequences of an aging population in our country. Furthermore, the UN has estimated that the percentage of Indonesians over 60 years will reach 25 percent by 2050 ‘or almost 74 million people.
The presence of systemic diseases such as Diabetes affects many aspects of people’s health. Related to dental health, the severity of the periodontal disease has the potential to worsen the elderly’s quality of life. It is proven that diabetes mellitus can increase the risk of periodontitis and periodontal inflammation, which will cause a negative impact on blood sugar control. Periodontitis is chronic inflammation, caused by specific microorganisms or groups of certain microorganisms on dental plaques that are characterized by damage to the supporting structures of the teeth (periodontal ligaments and alveolar bone). This disease has a fairly high prevalence (severe periodontitis occurs in 10-15% of adults) (Preshaw et al., 2012). Severe periodontitis can lead to loosening teeth and tooth loss. (Carranza et al., 2015). The missing teeth should ideally be replaced to anticipate some serious consequences. The most obvious effect is aesthetics, but the impact of the migration and rotation of the teeth, the inefficiency of chewing, temporomandibular joint disorders, and speech disorders can also affect health. Based on the conducted research, almost all elderly living in the Surabaya nursing home lost their teeth, partially or completely, and they chose to leave them without replacing them with dentures for several reasons.
This study showed that there are low requests for dentures. The low demand for dentures is significantly affected by at least three factors, predisposing factors (knowledge or attitudes of the elderly towards dental health), supporting factors (maintenance costs) and regulatory factors, family, and experience of using dentures. Attitudes play an important role in increasing the demand for health care, specifically the demand for dentures. The elderly did not feel any complaints about the condition of their oral cavity due to tooth loss. There is no dental health education or dental care offer. Thus, they feel that they do not need to request for dentures because they feel it is not obligatory. This study aims to understand the denture request from the elderly so the health strategy and management can be improved.
The cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 elderlies using multistage random sampling with descriptive-analytic research design. The instrument of this study is a validated questionnaire about the demand for dentures. The data analysis method used in this research was descriptive, and the calculation of data is presented in the form of a percentage using SPSS 17.0 software.
The results of this study showed that the majority of participants (45 people) showed a low level of demand for dentures (56.2%), while the remaining 35 people requesting dentures (43.8%). This study concludes that the low demand for dentures can cause poor oral health. The elderly should be more aware of the importance of oral and dental health so that they have a good quality of life and life expectancy can be maintained or improved. Life expectancy can summarize many things about a country, from the economic, social, health to be the subject of a review of policies made by a country. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary of average achievement in the main dimensions of human development (a long and healthy life, knowledgeable and having a decent standard of living). So it is highly recommended that public health programs cover the oral health population, especially the elderlies. Thus, future trends in health and management strategies can be improved.
Author: Dr. Titiek Berniyanti, drg.,M.Kes.
Details of this research available at:
Overview of Dentures’ Demand to Support the Improvement of Life Quality of the Elderly at High‑Level Life Expectancy in Indonesia, 2019, Journal of International Oral Health, ISSN. 09767428, 09761799 Volume 11 | Issue 3 page. 112-117
