Analysis Of Clinical Characteristics And Treatment Behaviors In Elderly Patients

To investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment patterns of geriatric patients in general dental clinics, providing evidence for optimizing oral healthcare services for the aging population. A cross-sectional study reviewed medical records of 896 patients (≥60 years) from a tertiary hospital’s general dental clinic (2023–2024). Data on demographics, chief complaints, diagnoses, comorbidities, and treatment compliance were analyzed using χ² tests (SPSS 26.0). The cohort (mean age: 69.19±7.45 years; 59.8% female) demonstrated high oral disease complexity: 83.4% had ≥2 concurrent oral conditions, and 49.1% exhibited systemic comorbidities. Top chief complaints included dental pain (42.2%), tooth mobility (15.4%), and mucosal discomfort (9.9%). Primary diagnoses were pulpitis (18.5%), periapical periodontitis (18.0%), and dentition defects (15.4%). Age and sex significantly influenced clinical presentation: dental pain predominated in females aged 60–69 (χ²=18.34, P<0.001), while tooth mobility was elevated in males ≥80 (χ²=12.17, P=0.002). Only 54.3% completed initial treatments, with 36.7% lost to follow-up. Notably, active consultation rates for periodontal disease (13.5%) and caries (4.4%) were markedly lower than their epidemiological prevalence. Geriatric dental patients face challenges including delayed care-seeking, poor treatment adherence, and mismatches between subjective complaints and objective diagnoses. These findings highlight the imperative for implementing proactive oral health screening programs and multidisciplinary care models to address the growing oral healthcare demands of aging populations.