Introduction:

ageing is associated with the onset or increase of dental diseases.

Objective:

to identify factors associated with premalignant oral lesions in patients over 60 years of age.

Methods:

a descriptive cross-sectional study on the risk factors for oral cancer was conducted in patients over 60 years of age, belonging to the 53-1 doctor's office in Santa Clara, Villa Clara, seen at the Dental Faculty from January 2018 to March 2019. The study population consisted of 106 patients over 60 years of age. Non-probability sampling by criteria was used, and the sample consisted of 93 of them. Information was collected through questionnaires, oral examination and individual medical history. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results:

patients aged 60-70 years (88), female gender (50), white (68) and secondary schooling (49) predominated. Patients with risk factors such as alcohol and tobacco consumption, associated with the presence of leukoplakia and other factors of significant interest predominated.

Conclusions:

there was a predominance of patients aged 60-70 years, female gender, secondary schooling, and the most commonly risk factors found in the sample were smoking and alcoholism, followed by sun exposure. The lesion with the highest incidence was leukoplakia.