Demographischer Wandel und seine Auswirkungen auf den Zahnbestand in der Bevölkerung

Abstract

The demographic development of the population not only has an impact on the problems of our society that are being discussed. Rising life expectancy and birth rates are leading to an ever-increasing number of seniors. Even if a certain influx to Germany from the outside alleviates the problem, it can not compensate for this development. The future life expectancy of today's 60-year-olds is 23.5 years for women and 19.2 years for men. The birth rate is low, currently 1.4 births per woman. The positive migration balance of 200,000 people has a measurable disintegra- tion effect. The old-age depot provides information on the share of pensioners of retirement age in relation to the group of potential earners. With a retirement age of 60 years, a ratio of one senior to two potential incomes will already be reached in 2020. More people are about to retire at retirement age than enter potential employment. The demographic changes will also affect the development of oral health in the future. Even on optimistic assumptions, tooth loss will continue to increase. Due to the increasing number of seniors, the successes of the projection in the population are not directly visible. The elderly, however, will have more teeth until old age. This also means that the peculiarities of geriatric dentistry become more and more important in private practice. In the rural area, this process will be even earlier than in urban centers.