Xerostomia and other prevalent oral health issues in the rapidly growing elderly population worldwide

The elderly population is growing at unprecedented rates worldwide. The increased mortality and decline in fertility have greatly contributed to this and caused the ratio of elderly to the remaining populations in countries around the world to dramatically increase. Furthermore, these numbers show no signs of slowing and are expected to increase at quicker rates. With this, follows the need for better health care systems in order to maintain a good quality of life for this demographic. Of specific interest to this thesis are prevalent oral health conditions in the elderly. Conditions such as xerostomia, dental caries, and periodontal disease plague the elderly population. The research shows how much more prevalent and severe these oral health conditions are in the elderly population and aims to examine these along with effective means of treatment and care. Future measures should be taken to effectively stabilize oral health care for the elderly. Better pubic health care systems need to be put in place that address the access to care issue that exists within the elderly population, along with better promotion of preventative measures