Middle-aged and elderly people and oral diseases

Author: Wang Bangkang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-10-01
Features: China's population structure is shifting towards aging, with this trend being more pronounced in large and medium-sized cities. Taking Beijing as an example, the proportion of the population aged 60 and above reached 10.36% in 1987 and 12.48% in 1994. These two data indicate the aging trend of Beijing's population structure, with middle-aged and elderly people becoming the main demographic. The extension of human lifespan is a significant marker of social progress and an inevitable outcome of advancements in society, economy, and technology. However, as a developed and civilized society, there remains the challenge of improving the quality of life and well-being of the aging population. In simple terms, people desire both longevity and health, which should be a crucial societal goal that the entire community strives to achieve. The aspiration of "longevity with health" is accelerating the transformation of medical models, fostering the rapid development of health revolutions, and driving the mindset renewal of healthcare professionals. A key point here is that healthcare workers must not only focus on patients but also on healthy individuals; they should not only provide medical technical services to patients but also deliver medical knowledge services to the general population. This means that healthcare professionals should use methods such as health education, health promotion, health counseling, and health guidance to impart health-maintenance knowledge to people, enabling the general public to develop self-care abilities and shift from being passive recipients of care to self-servants. Thus, it promotes the rise and development of self-care among the societal population. I believe this is one of the fundamental goals of medical development, one of the fundamental pathways to achieving longevity with health, and one of the essential measures to realize the objectives of a developed and civilized society. Based on these understandings, we organized a group of experienced elderly experts from Beijing's medical community and selected China Environmental Science Press to compile and publish this series, "Medical Experts Discuss Middle-Aged and Elderly Health." The series aims to convey the mysteries of life and health-maintenance knowledge to the middle-aged and elderly friends in an accessible and engaging manner. It helps middle-aged and elderly friends grasp the "key" to longevity with health and enhances their self-care abilities. The series not only elucidates knowledge on the prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of common middle-aged and elderly diseases but also dedicates separate volumes to topics such as psychological disorders, health preservation, sexuality, and menopause. It can be said that this series provides a relatively comprehensive and in middle-aged and elderly health, with strong knowledge,, and readability. The series is not only beneficial for the health and longevity of every middle-aged and elderly person but also contributes to the development of social, psychological, and biomedicine models, as well as the comprehensive prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, chronic diseases, and degenerative diseases, which are poised to become the main killers of humanity.