Research Article
Claudia Florina Andreescu,
Abstract
Older people are an important population group because there is a greater percentage of the population surviving into old age. The oral health of older people is changing currently. Edentulism was a common feature of old age, 30 to 40 years ago. This is no longer the case, as increasing numbers of elderly people retain their natural teeth. The aim of this study is to assess the mastication in a group of institutionalized elderly people of Constanta city. 100 people have been examined and the number of remaining teeth as well as the presence of prosthetic treatment has been registered, for an objective evaluation of mastication function. All the subjects have been questioned about the self-evaluation of mastication. The results showed a small number of remaining teeth (13.04) and numerous cases without prosthetic treatment or with old and/or incomplete prosthetic treatment, which lead to mastication difficulties and problems in biting and chewing of solid food.