Dental Surgeons Knowledge about Diagnostic Pratices of Cognitive State

Objectives:A complex of disorders known as Dementia Syndrome (SD) are neuro-degenerative disorders whose prevalence significantly increases within advanced age groups. Individuals affected by SD present a gradual deterioration of their cognitive capacities leading to cognitive deficiencies (CD) that compromise memory, temporal and spatial orientation, concentration and linguistic capacity, as well as marked episodes of emotional instability. Of this study is to evaluate the diagnosis of SD by dental surgeons (DS) in Brazil, through the use of standardized psychological instruments that measure the cognitive state of geriatric patients.

Methods:A 10-item DS questionnaire was developed. Items 1-4 measure DS demographics; name, age, year of dental training, professional school and specialization. Items 5-10 measure the prevalence of DS attending patients 60 years or older, percentage of DS that know what cognition is in general, and the relationship between aging and CD; and DS knowledge and use of Mini-Mental, a standardized cognitive battery for dental patients aged 60 and above. 112 DS were randomly selected from the Sao Paulo metropolitan area in Brazil. All responded.

Results:Results indicate that 53.57% of DS recognize CD, and that aging is related to CD (52.67%), however, only 8.03% of DS knew the Mini-Mental, and even more significant, not one DS (0.00%) had used the instrument with their patients.

Conclusions:There were no correlations between DS age and institution of learning and the recognition of cognition and use of CD evaluation instruments. These results strongly indicate that treatment of elderly patients may be significantly compromised.

It is evident, that professional dental schools need to do more to include CD and dementia syndrome in the curriculum of geriatric dentistry as the general population in Brazil continues to live well beyond 60 years.