Investigation On The State Of Occlusal Support And Oral Health-related Quality Of Life Among Middle-aged And Elder In Fujian Province

Occlusion is one of the important parts of the mouth-jaw system and is the important constituent to complete the oral function. In the general significance, occlusion may contain two meanings: One is the linking contact between the maxillary and the mandibular teeth, the other is that in the movement of mandible.Tooth is the important constituent of the occlusal support system and tooth missing may cause the occlusal support function subsiding or losing. But tooth missing is precisely one of the common and frequently-occurring diseases in middle-aged persons and old persons, in particularly the elder.At present, the domestic investigations concerned the occlusion of middle-aged and elder mainly include tooth missing , tooth abrasion , occlusal trauma and so on , but the studies on the occlusal support are also rare either in domestic or foreign.In 1999, the elder population above 60 in our country has achieved 1.25×10~9 and accounts for 10% in total, our country has already become the aged country. With the rapid growth of aged population, an abnormal state of occlusal support function subsiding or losing in a large amount of the old crowds because of tooth missing is bound in our country, though occlusal support is one of the important factors maintaining the oral function. When its function become weak, especially when the unusual state of this kind of oral cavity exists for a long time, whether will it also influence the health status of the old people, and then lower the oral health-related quality of life. Researches in this aspect are all still rare in home and abroad, and the understanding to this still stays on very light aspect at present.To this situation of abnormal oral state existing that occlusal support function subsiding or losing because of common and frequently-occurring...