• Prarom Salimee
• Supida Anussorn-nitisara
• Jariya Pornsumalee
• Puttiporn Mongkonchart
• Varisa Thienthanoo

Objectives  The aim of this study is to investigate the chief complaint, clinical finding, personal medical history, and treatment received of the patients in the project of dental aid services in the commemoration of His Majesty The King’s Six-Cycle Birthday and the International year for the elderly of Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University. The data will be used for the geriatric dentistry division planning.

Materials and methods  The survey of the 647 patient’s records about age, sex, chief complaint, clinical finding, medical history, and treatment in the individual department were recorded and analyzed.

Results  According to the 647 patient’s records (300 males and 347 female), the range of 60-64 years of age was the most found (41.0%). The chief complaint generally found was oral health check up (74.5%), followed by trouble in chewing (19.5%). From the clinical finding, periodontal diseases involved 283 patients (43.7%), followed by caries (34.0%) and edentulous area (34.0%). Concerning the medical history, two-thirds of patients had systemic diseases (68.9%). Hypertension was the most found (21.6%) followed by diabetes mellitus and heart trouble (9.9% and 9.7%, respectively). Most patients (76.5%) underwent the treatment in the Department of Prosthodontics followed by Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontics (53.3% and 50.7%, respectively).

Conclusion  The elderly patients in this project were in need of the dental prosthesis, operative and periodontal treatment. Before treating the elderly patients, the systemic diseases should be investigated for highly consider in treatment risk.

(CU Dent J 2001;24:129-38)