Oral Health Attitudes and Practices of the Elderly People in South East Local Government Area (SELGA) In Ibadan

Abstract

The aetiology of many dental diseases is influenced by behavioral and lifestyle factors. It is the aim of this study to determine the oral health attitude and practices of the elderly people in SELGA in Ibadan, Nigeria.The study was conducted on 690 randomly selected individuals from 23 wards in SELGA. Two trained interviewers interviewed them on their oral health knowledge attitude and practices.Positive attitude was demonstrated towards care of the teeth, infection of the gum and regular cleaning of the teeth (99.3%, 88.1%, 97%) and negative attitude towards dental treatment (74.6% ).Majority (59.86%) clean their teeth twice daily but only 13% visit the dental clinic regularly and 65.7% have not been to the dental clinic before.Whilst there was strong correlation between frequency of tooth cleaning and attitude to tooth cleaning, the desire to visit the dental clinic (84.2%) did not translate into regular dental clinic attendance.

Keywords: Oral Health, Attitudes, Practices, Elderly.