04 July 2023

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Considerations on the elderly population and dentition

Massimo Gagliani

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The preservation of dental elements in the elderly population is becoming increasingly important. In the early 1980s, a 60-year-old with a partial or total removable prosthesis was quite common. Today it is, fortunately, not as common. However, the use of removable prosthetic devices still affects a sizable portion of the population.

Judging by a systematic review published in late 2022 in the Journal of Dentistry, the concept explored at the very end of the last century of 10 occlusal units can be taken into consideration again.

This assumption aims to provide patients with a functional dentition of 10 chewing units between them, where a chewing pair of premolars is one unit and a chewing pair of molars is the second unit.

Evidence suggests that when the masticatory system is restored to 10 occluding pairs, patients have sufficient oral function and comfort to have an acceptable quality of life. This should make us think because, through digital techniques, today it is possible to package prosthetic products in materials that were not even possible before at much lower manufacturing costs.

It is a paradigm renewal that welcomes an old one and adapts it to new evidence. The umpteenth solution originates from the common sense of those who preceded us and from the refinement of those who will follow us.

It’s also an important challenge for dentistry that cannot be ignored and which, if accepted, will give new dignity to the profession.

R. Borg-Bartolo, A. Roccuzzo, P. Molinero-Mourelle, M. Schimmel, K. Gambetta-Tessini, A. Chaurasia, R.B. Koca-Ünsal, C. Tennert, R. Giacaman, G. Campus, "Global prevalence of edentulism and dental caries in middle-aged and elderly persons: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Journal of Dentistry, Volume 127, 2022, 104335, ISSN 0300-5712, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdent.2022.104335.