1. 연구의 필요성 우리나라의 65세 이상 고령인구의 비율은 전체인구 중 13.1%로 매년 증가하는 추세에 있어, 고령사회 진입속도가 선진국에 비해 매 우 빠르게 진행되고 있으며 2060년도에는 총인구의 40.1%까지 증가 할 것으로 예측하고 있다[1]. 고령화 사회가 진행되면서 노인들의 경 제적, 사회적 문제와 함께 건강 문제가 중요한 문제로 대두되었다. 구강건강은 전체 건강의 일부이기는 하지만 소화와 영양분 섭취와 밀접한 관련성을 가지고 있을 뿐 아니라, 노인 우울, 삶의 질에까지 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타나 노인의 건강유지에 중요한 요인이 된 다[2]. 국민건강영양조사(2013)에서 65세 이상 노인의 저작불편 호 소율은 49.2%이며, 저작, 발음시 불편한 구강기능 제한율은 52.3%로 절반이상에서 불편감을 경험하는 것으로 나타났다.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of denture care skills education program on denture self-care, denture satisfaction and subjective oral status among the elderly. Methods: The research design for this study was a non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design. Total 61 elderly who visited a seniors center, Seoul, Korea, participated in this study. Participants were 31 elderly for the experimental group and 30 elderly for the control group. The experimental group received a lesson in denture care skills education program which was developed by the researchers. Using a structural questionnaire, the elderly' s perception about denture self-care, denture satisfaction and subjective oral status were measured before and after the intervention. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, chi-square test, and ANCOVA test were performed using SPSS WIN 21.0. Results: The experimental group showed significantly higher scores in denture satisfaction(p < .001), QOL of oral health( < .001), concern for oral health(p = .005), subjective oral health status(p < .001), bad breath(p = .010), oral dryness(p < .001) and number of denture clearing(p< .001). Conclusion: The results suggest that the denture care skills education program for elderly at a senior center was effective. Further work is required to develop more effective denture care skills education programs and an oral health promotion program to improve the health status of the elderly. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.