It is the mission of health professionals not merely to try to increase the length of the life span, but also perhaps most important, to make the later years more progressive and enjoyable.With the ability to better identify those elders at highest risk for oral problems, we can better target our preventive and therapeutic interventions. The essential relationship of systemic disease and medication usage to oral health status is now better understood, with observed age related changes in mastication, swallowing capability and salivary gland function etc. In contrast, much less is known about...