Autopercepção da saúde bucal, reabilitação com próteses dentárias totais removíveis muco-suportadas e seu efeito entre idosos edêntulos

Abstract

Studies have shown that even in poor oral health elderly people positively perceive their oral health. However, prosthetic rehabilitation is necessary to make the elderly able to improve chewing, speech, satisfaction with appearance and social inclusion. Considering this context, a survey was developed among 287 edentulous elderly, with 60 years aged and over, living in the urban area of a small city, Ibiaí-MG, which aims were: to evaluate the self-perceived oral health and associated factors; to characterize the rehabilitation with complete dentures and identify associated factors; to evaluate the resulting impact of oral disorders before and after rehabilitation with complete denture in a group of these elderly. The project was performed according to the Resolution 196/96 of the National Council of the Ministry of Health and was submitted and approved by the Committee of Ethics in Research of Unimontes. The data were collected by trained and calibrated professionals (kappa ≥ 0.61). For each aim was conducted a study. In the first two, the cross-sectional design was performed; in the first, the dependent variable was the self-percetion of oral health and, in the second, the dependent variable was the use of complete dentures. In the third study was performed a non-randomized clinical controlled trial with two groups of 36 respondents each, who were interviewed on two times, and, between interviews, one of the groups was rehabilitated with complete dentures. The data from the two interviews, before and after, were compared between and within groups. Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate analyzes were performed, considering a significance level of 5%. In the cross-sectional studies, the results showed that those elderly who did not receive information about how to prevent oral problems, those who had no formal schooling, and those with impact on the OHIP' physical disability dimension (food and make meals), are more likely to perceived their oral health negatively. Those elderly with 72 years and over, those who have never used dental services and those who reported impact in the range of OHIP-14 physical disability were less likely to use dentures. On the other hand, those who had used the dental service of health insurance / private service and those with lesions on the palate were more likely to use complete dentures. In the clinical trial, the results showed that before the intervention there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups, but after the intervention, the rehabilitated group showed a decrease in consequential impact of oral disorders when compared with both their data before rehabilitation and the control group. A decline was verified in the impact among the rehabilitated in four of the seven OHIP components evaluated: psychological and psychological discomfort, physical and social disabilities. These results indicate the need of public policies that enable elderly access to dental rehabilitation.