The oral health of the ageing population

Worldwide, the population is ageing. In many higher income countries, as birth rates fall and life expectancy increases, the proportion of older adults within the general population has increased. This has been one of the most distinctive demographic events of the last century and is predicted to continue at pace in the twenty-first century. Alongside population ageing, the oral health of older adults has also changed markedly with the emergence of a partially dentate older population. As patients retain more of their natural teeth for longer this does present challenges for the dental profession. Whilst construction of complete replacement dentures previously dominated oral care for older adults, prevention and management of chronic dental diseases are now increasingly important. Unfortunately this means that the burden of oral healthcare for the ageing population is also rising sharply and as oral health conditions exert an excessive burden on older adults, oral health inequalities have become a major concern. In this chapter, we discuss the impact of changing population and oral epidemiology on oral healthcare provision for older adults.