Social demand for oral surgery in third age patients and its association with systemic pathologies

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the frequency of systemic pathologies in patients aged 65 years or more, who require oral care and possibly oral surgery. Study Design: We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study reviewing 3,388 medical histories for patients from the Department of Medicine and Oral Surgery of the School of Dentistry at the Complutense University of Madrid, who had requested surgical treatment. Those selected were at least 65 years of age or more, and were grouped according to their medical histories into categories of pathologies, which include: systemic, cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, endocrine-metabolic, genitourinary, osteoarticular, nervous system and the sensory organs. Results: Patients over the age of 65 most commonly present cardiovascular and digestive pathologies, which represent values of 30.8% and 13.75%, respectively. The rest of the systemic pathologies analyzed were categorized according to frequency, as follows: endocrino-metabolic pathologies 6.66%, respiratory pathologies 6.25%, genitourinary pathologies 3.75%, osteoarticular pathologies 2.91%, and pathologies of the nervous system and sensory organs 2.08%. Conclusions: The demand for surgical treatments by third age patients was relatively low, representing 2.18%. However, the presence of systemic pathologies was constant, and therefore, the anamnesis and patient medical history are fundamental for any surgical treatment.

Descriptive study of the patients treated at the clinic integrated dentistry for patients with special needs at Complutense University of Madrid (2003-2012)

“…Out of them, 65,74% had diabetes, 25,92% hypothyroidism, 3,70% hyperthyroidism and the other 4,62% suffered from other type of endocrine disease. Similar to our study, other reviews report diabetes as the most common pathology among endocrine diseases ( 7 , 8 , 10 ). About 2% of the patients attending dental clinics suffer from diabetes, with about half of them unaware of their condition.…”

“…( 10 ) and Martinez-González et al . ( 8 ) also considered the HT as the most frequent pathology (44,9% and 40,5% respectively), although only patients over 65 were included. Our results are also compatible with the Spanish National Health Survey from 2011-2012 and also in the previous one from 2006, which stated that HT was the most prevalent chronic or long-standing problem or disease diagnosed by doctors in individuals over 15 years in Spain ( 11 , 12 ).…”

Prevalence of systemic diseases among patients requesting dental consultation in the public and private systems

“…The prevalence of systemic disease in patients in the study group was similar to that detected by other authors, both in patients from the public system ( 11 , 12 ) and in those from private practice ( 2 , 4 , 13 ). The majority of diseases were of cardiovascular origin, particularly systemic hypertension (HT), as reported in previous studies ( 4 , 6 , 12 - 15 ); this is compatible with the report of the National Health Survey from 2006 ( 16 ), which stated that HT was the most prevalent chronic or long-standing problem or disease diagnosed by doctors in individuals over 16 years of age in Spain. Fernández-Feijoo et al ( 17 ), in a screening study for HT performed in a public health system dental clinic, found that 29.2% of patients requesting dental treatment had blood pressure levels suggestive of HT.…”