Association Between Age, Systemic Diseases and Oral Health Habits in Stomatological Teaching Hospital Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined age-related disease patterns and health behaviours in dental outpatients to enhance risk assessment and guide clinical decision-making, providing strategies for managing medical risks in dental clinics.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 2,241 consecutive patients from a tertiary stomatological teaching hospital between November 2024 and April 2025. Based on the Pre-Treatment Risk Assessment Questionnaire for Dental Outpatients, a validated questionnaire was used to assess general demographic characteristics (10 items), systemic disease and medication use history (36 items) and oral hygiene habits (9 items). Data were analysed using SPSS 23.0 and Python 3.9.

RESULTS

It showed that 12.5% of patients were aged ≥ 60 years. Elderly dental patients had a significantly higher prevalence of both single-system and multi-system diseases compared to other age groups (p 0.001). Specifically, the population showed significantly greater proportions of sensory disorders, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory system diseases, urogenital disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological disorders, and endocrine system diseases, medication use, and history of organ transplantation than younger patients, especially coronary heart disease, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, diabetes mellitus, thyroid dysfunction and osteoporosis than younger age groups (all p 0.01). Furthermore, compared to younger patients, elderly patients had lower frequencies of toothbrushing, dental floss use, water flosser use, professional cleaning, and dental check-ups but exhibited reduced gingival bleeding and oral malodor(all p 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Elderly patients exhibit higher systemic comorbidities but poorer oral hygiene than younger individuals, necessitating integrated care with risk assessment and oral health education. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating geriatric medicine training to improve interdisciplinary collaboration.