RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine and analyze the awareness of dentists of the problems of elderly life, and to provide direction for a desirable retirement plan, according to individual awareness. METHODS: A stratified sampling method was used in proportion to the number of dental clinic and dental hospitals practicing in the Seoul metropolitan area, Incheon city, and Gyeonggi province. The data was verified by the Korea Dental Association's 2010 list of dentists, and for stratified random sampling, was stratified according to the number of regional dental clinics. Dentists from 855 dental clinics and dental hospitals were selected between May and Sept. 2010 for a self-administered survey questionnaire, by mail, fax or interview. 484 valid questionnaires (56.7%) were collected from respondents for data analysis. The study used SPSS (ver. 18.0) to analyze Chi-square tests, one-way ANOVA, and independent t-tests on the collected survey data. RESULTS: The responders pointed out that 'health related problems', 'financial problems', and 'isolation from society', were, in order, the main problems of the elderly stage of life. Dentists showed the highest response to their own suitable retirement age of '60- under 70'. The more that responders recognized his or her own good personal health status, the lower the subjective degree of anxiety for financing after retirement (P<0.001). Responders who had monthly net income of 'under 1,500 ten thousand won' showed the highest degree of anxiety, and those who had 'over 2,500 ten thousand won' showed the lowest degree of anxiety, which showed statistical significance (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, 'health related problems' was the highest predicted problem for elderly dentists. Therefore, dentists should actively engage in a healthy living style to prepare for a healthy old age. Furthermore, early preparation and establishment of countermeasures to actively manage predictable problems in elderly living is needed.