Elderly caregivers profile and oral health perception

The aim of this study was to evaluate the profile and the oral health perception of elderly caregivers who in charge of giving assistance to three benefiting institutions in the city of Araçatuba, Brazil. A form was filled in by the interviewers according to the caregivers' answers. In relation to schooling level, 83.3% have a nurse aid's technician course and 16.7% don't present any type of technical formation. More than half of the interviewed caregivers (61.11%) reported that they started working for necessity, not for affinity. It was detected lack of oral health perception which showed that most of the caregivers need more knowledge of the most prevalent oral diseases. Most of them (55.56%) believe that tooth loosing is part of aging. According to the obtained results, it was proved that caregivers need more information about oral health related to elderly.