Developing pathways for oral care in elders: evidence-based interventions for dental caries prevention in dentate elders.

BACKGROUND Dental caries is becoming an ever-growing challenge as the number of elders maintaining their teeth increases. There is a need for low-cost, effective preventive interventions to retain natural teeth for elders. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to evaluate evidence based interventions for dentate elders, specifically the adjunct therapies of fluoride, chlorhexidine, xylitol, casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate, ozone, and herbal liquorice. RESULTS Fluoride interventions have demonstrated prevention and remineralization of dental caries in elders. Systematic reviews of the literature are unable to establish definitive conclusions regarding the effectiveness of other adjunct therapies in dental caries prevention. CONCLUSIONS Further research with elders requires improved study design with well designed multi-center trials. Considerations for new strategies for research of the effectiveness of therapies to reduce dental caries include the development and evaluation of combinations of therapeutic interventions and dental caries management by risk assessment.