Effect Of Social Relationships On Oralhealth Among Older Individuals

Introduction: The favorable influence of social relations on health is widely recognized in gerontologic, epidemiologic, and public health research. The function of social relations is defined as the interpersonal interactions within the structure of the social relations. It is seen that social relations have long been implicated as a causal factor of general health and limited literature exists on associations between social relations and oral health. Objectives: The objective of the study was to analyze whether social relations influence oral health among adults aged 60 and older. Methods: The study was conducted for a duration of one month. All the adults aged 60 and older attending the outpatient department of Sri Sai college of dental surgery were included in the study. A questionnaire which comprised questions related to social relations and dentition status was prepared based on the previous literature. Results: A total of 161 elderly individuals with a mean age of 65.3 ± 5.3 years participated in the study. Only 8.7% of the population were living alone. Majority i.e. 62% of them were not accompanied by any of their family members on visiting a hospital. Mean DMFT of individuals who were not satisfied with their social contacts was found to be 16.86 ± 11.92. Conclusion: Overall there was no significant association observed between social relationship and oral health status of elderly individuals. More longitudinal studies aimed at a larger population must be conducted to achieve an appropriate result.