Introduction:

In the Periodontics department of the "Mártires del Moncada" Teaching Provincial Stomatology Clinic in Santiago de Cuba, the level of self-esteem and oral hygiene of the elderly has not been characterized.

Objective:

To characterize the levels of self-esteem and oral hygiene in the elderly, during the period July to December 2017.

Method:

A descriptive-cross-sectional study was carried out in the 32 older adults who attended the Periodontics Department of the Teaching Provincial Stomatological Clinic from Santiago de Cuba, which met the inclusion criteria: over 60 and older, of both genders, who gave their consent to participate in the research. The variables were studied: age, sex, education, level of self-esteem and oral hygiene.

Results:

The 65-69 year old group (37.5%), the female sex (62.5%), the pre-university school level (37.5%), the average self-esteem level (56.2%) and poor oral hygiene (53.1%).

Conclusions:

The level of average self-esteem is one of the psychological elements closely linked to poor oral hygiene in the older adults studied, so special attention is required in the comprehensive assessment of these patients, given its possible influence with the state of health oral.

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