Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Epidemiology
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1486182
This article is part of the Research Topic Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations View all 3 articles

Outcome predictors of odontogenic abscesses in the elderly

Provisionally accepted
Daniel Kärcher Daniel Kärcher 1*Philipp Thelen Philipp Thelen 1Mike Ruettermann Mike Ruettermann 2Lei Li Lei Li 1Axel Hamprecht Axel Hamprecht 1
  • 1 Klinikum Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
  • 2 University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, Netherlands

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Odontogenic infections have a high prevalence and can lead to severe complications. Due to demographic changes, the number of geriatric patients has increased in recent years. The aim of this study was to analyse odontogenic abscesses in elderly patients and to differentiate them from non-elderly patients regarding clinical presentation, bacterial analysis and therapy. We retrospectively reviewed 1173 inpatients with odontogenic abscesses from 2014 to 2020. Patients were divided into elderly patients (>=70 years, n=240) and non-elderly patients (<70 years, n=933). Demographics, clinical parameters, laboratory values and treatment parameters were analysed. Overall, elderly patients had a longer hospital stay (LOS) (median 4 [range 28] vs 3 [range 22] days) and more complications (9.6% vs 7.9%) than non-elderly patients, although these differences were not statistically significant. Peri-/submandibular (p=0.015), parapharyngeal (p<0.001) and oral base infections (p=0.036) were associated with significantly longer LOS in the elderly. Chronic renal failure (CRF) was associated with LOS (p=0.010) and complications (p=0.006). In the elderly, c-reactive protein (CRP) correlated significantly with LOS (p<0.001) and more complications (p=0.036). This study identifies anatomical spaces and CRF as outcome predictors of odontogenic abscesses in the elderly. In addition, CRP level may serve as a predictor of complicated course in elderly patients.

    Keywords: Odontogenic abscess, Elderly, Geriatric patients, chronic renal failure, C-Reactive Protein

    Received: 25 Aug 2024; Accepted: 30 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kärcher, Thelen, Ruettermann, Li and Hamprecht. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Daniel Kärcher, Klinikum Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.