The aim of this systematic review was to provide an update on caries prevalence in older adults aged 60 years or above around the globe. Two independent reviewers performed a systematic literature search of English publications from January 2016 to December 2020 using Pubmed, Scopus, Embase/Ovid and Web of Science. The MeSH terms used were "dental caries", "root caries", "DMF index", "aged" and "aged 80 and over". Further searches in Google Scholar retrieved eight additional publications. The epidemiological surveys reporting the prevalence of dental caries or root caries or caries experience using DMFT (decayed, missing and filled teeth) and DFR (decayed and filled root) in older adults aged 60 years or above were included. Quality of the publications was assessed using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data. Among the 5271 identified publications, 39 articles of moderate or good quality were included. Twenty studies were conducted in Asia (China, India, Vietnam, Singapore and Turkey), ten in Europe (Ireland, Norway, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Poland, Romania and Kosovo), three in North America (USA and Mexico), one in South America (Brazil), two in Oceania (Australia) and three in Africa (Malawi, Egypt and South Africa). The prevalence of dental caries ranged from 25% (Australia) to 99% (South Africa), while the prevalence of root caries ranged from 8% (Finland) to 74% (Brazil) in community dwellers. The situation was even worse in institutionalised older adults of which the mean DMFT score varied from 6.9 (Malawi) to 29.7 (South Africa). Based on the included studies published in the last 5 years, caries is still prevalent in older adults worldwide and their prevalence varies across countries.
Keywords: caries; elderly; older adult; oral health; prevention; silver diamine fluoride.