General diseases and dental treatability of the institutionalized elderly Finnish population.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between such general diseases and dental treatability of the elderly living in municipal old people's homes in Finland. The sampling methods used were PPS sampling (probabilities proportionate to size), and non-randomized and randomized sampling. The subjects were 480 residents of 24 municipal old people's homes in different parts of Finland. Of the subjects 153 were men and 327 women, and their ages ranged from 65 to 100 yr. Data on the general diseases was obtained from the subjects' medical histories. The assessment of dental treatability was based on the subjects' communicative ability and cooperation during interview, on a clinical oral examination, and on the subjects' ability to cope with the stress of an interview and examination. Eleven percent of the subjects had no diagnosed diseases, whereas 28% had three or more. The most common diseases in both men and women were cardiovascular diseases followed by respiratory disorders in men and endocrine disorders in women. The dental treatability was considered very poor or poor in 29% and good in 26% of cases. No clear statistical correlation was found between dental treatability and the number of diseases suffered by the subject. However, cardiovascular diseases and neurologic and mental disorders were found to reduce dental treatability more than other disorders.