Abstract
The purpose of this study is to provide a set of fundamental data for the oral hygiene education for the elderly as a result of the survey on the oral hygiene and subjective oral health of the elderly in an aged society. For this purpose, 269 elders who dwelled in Gyeongsangbuk-do region were randomly selected in an arbitrary selection process, followed by a survey on their oral hygiene and health. The collected data were coded and processed by using SPSS 15.0 software. As for the analysis of the data, the general characteristics and the basic items concerning the management of the oral health were analyzed for their frequency and percentages, while the general characteristics and the awareness on the oral health were processed with Chi-square validation to show a set of results as follows; Firstly, among the items on the oral health, the satisfaction on the current condition of their oral health was below average. Secondly, concerning the oral hygienic behaviors, the majority of the samples answered that they were brushing their teeth twice a day. And, as for the brushing methods, the largest number of the samples answered that they were brushing their teeth in a 'horizontal direction'. Thirdly, they reported they were having difficulties in getting dental treatments. The implications of this study are that it is necessary to provide sound oral health education to them to correct the inappropriate oral hygienic behaviors.
