A self-esteem affecting dental health condition of the elderly in Thaptilek sub-district, Muang district, Suphanburi province

Abstract

   The elderly encounter common oral health problems because of changes in the body and oral cavities such as decayed, fillings, removal tooth and gingivitis. If the elderly have greater longevity, oral health problems tend to be more severe. As the result the elderly should take much care of themselves and sometimes they may need health care including dental care from caregivers and health personnel. One way is to build self-esteem of the elderly toward oral health problems or dental condition of their health. This study was to determine the effect of the self-esteem affecting dental health condition of the elderly.

    The sample consisted of 152 elderly aged 60 years and above who had social engagement and were completely sensible in Thaptilek subdistrict, Muang district, Suphanburi province. Data were collected by oral examination for decayed, fillings and removal teeth. Structural questionnaire regarding personal information and self-esteem with alpha coefficient reliability 0.82 was employed. Data were analyzed by the frequency, percentages, means and standard deviations. Correlation and regression were performed.  The elderly had self-esteem in a relatively high level to get mean score70.3% of total score. They got self-esteem in a maximum mean score 75.7% of self-virture component, followed by the self-power component 69.2%, self-competence component 68.8% and self-significance component in lowest 67.0% of total score.

       The oral health condition, removal teeth of the elderly with an average 8.2 teeth per person, fillings and decayed tooth with an average of 2.9 and 1.2 teeth per person respectively. The caries index (DMFT) with an average 12.4 ± 7.5 teeth per person. Self-esteem and oral health condition of the elderly were positively correlated. The correlation coefficient was 0.79 and predicted the oral health of the elderly with 63.0 percent, according to the equation Y = 0.18X - 3.46 when Y = good oral health status and X = self-esteem.