Dental status of the Iranian elderly: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Tooth loss is an important health dilemma. The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review and meta‐analysis of dental status and edentulism in the elderly residing in Iran. An electronic search of the literature was carried out on Farsi and English databases using the following keywords: edentulism, dental caries, elderly, oral and dental health, edentulous, geriatric, caries, dentate, Iran, and prevalence. Articles that met the eligibility criteria according to the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies In Epidemiology) checklist were selected and entered into the meta‐analysis. Data were analyzed using Stata 13.1 software, and the metan and metareg packages for used for the meta‐regression and meta‐analysis. Of the 172 articles retrieved, 154 were used after eliminating the duplicates, and their full texts were read. Of the 4574 participants evaluated in 13 studies, 2227 (48.7%) were completely edentulous (95% confidence interval [CI]: .49‐.49). Of the 4423 participants evaluated in 12 studies, 2286 (51.7%) were dentate (95% CI: .52‐.52). The mean number of remaining teeth was 5.73 (95% CI: 5.73‐5.73) in six studies conducted on 2782 participants. Approximately 50% of the elderly in Iran are completely edentulous. Efforts should be made to improve dental care instruction, provision of dental care services in the public sector, and dental insurance coverage to promote the dental status of elderly Iranians.

Frequency of Systemic Diseases and Oral Lesions Among the Institutionalized Elderly Subjects in the Northeast of Iran

“…In another study conducted in the north of Iran, about 67% of the non-institutionalized elderly people had at least one systemic illness; hypertension and diabetes were the most common diseases,[ 18 ] which was in line with the present study findings. In the Asian studies assessed in one systematic review, cerebrovascular illnesses, hypertension and dementia were the most common systemic diseases among the old participants.…”

Evaluation of oral health status in the population above 50: evidence from the ardakan cohort study on aging (ACSA)

“…A systematic review study in 2022 showed that 1.1–70% of people aged 45 years and above were edentulism [ 4 ]. In a recent systematic review comprising 13 studies, the prevalence of edentulism among older adults in Iran was found to be 48% [ 5 ].…”

Distribution of Extracted Teeth According to the Site, Type, Age, and Sex: A Retrospective Single-Center Study from Baghdad, Iraq

“…The first molar tooth is more commonly extracted in females than males before the age of 30 years, while the opposite was reported at age > 30 years 5 Tooth agenesis is one cause of missing teeth, often involving the mandibular second premolar tooth, and it gives a bias impression on the number of the extracted teeth 6 . In one meta-analysis that included 4,423 participants from six studies, the data extracted showed that the average number of remaining teeth were 5.73 in the elderly age group 7 . Poor oral hygiene, which was reported in refugees from the Middle East, is a cause of a high percentage of decay, missing, and filling teeth 8 .…”