What this means
Researchers searched databases and found only two studies on this topic, both with older adults. The review suggests well-being in later life is not explained by clinical measures alone.
Plain-English summary written by an AI model from the abstract. The original is below.
- Who it was tested in
- 2369 older adults aged 60 to 81 in two studies
- Kind of research
- A summary of earlier studies
The science
- Original title
- Beyond Aging: The Relationship Between Gerotranscendence and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life-A Scoping Review.
- Authors
- Pai MBH, Yellapurkar S, Kulkarni SS et al.
- Journal
- International journal of dentistry
- Published
- Oct 15, 2026
- Study type
- Review
- PMID
- 42877429 ↗
Abstract
Background
"Aging India" is an important public health issue given the various multifactorial physical, psychological, and social aspects of old age. In 2000, the elderly population (≥60 years) in India accounted for 7.7% (77 million) of the total population; this percentage increased to 8.6% (104 million) in 2011 and increased again to 9.4% (125 million) in 2017. Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is a multidimensional construct that impacts every aspect of daily activities. Gerotranscendence has been suggested to be an ability that enables adaptation and coping strategies from despair, found in Erikson's eighth developmental task. The study aimed to systematically map and synthesize the existing literature on the relationship between gerotranscendence and OHRQoL among older adults and map any evidence gap on the topic.
What they did
This scoping review was conducted using Arksey O'Malley's framework, reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) ScR guidelines. The research question for this scoping review was: "What is the available evidence on the relation between gerotranscendence and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL)?" The databases searched were PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science. Grey literature was not included in this scoping review because it was poorly indexed and unstructured, and the effort required to structure it outweighed the benefits of rapid scoping. The search was conducted by one researcher, with the last search carried out in November 2025.
What they found
The search of various databases yielded 95 records. After removing the duplicates and completing the title abstract screening, a total of six articles were identified for the full-text review. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, four articles were excluded, and two were included in this scoping review; both were cross-sectional studies and were conducted on a total of 2369 participants aged between 60-81 years. This scoping review shows an intersection between psychosocial aging theory and oral health research. Gerotranscendence seems to modulate the way older adults perceive and respond to challenges presented by their oral health, which suggests that well-being later in life is not explained by clinical parameters alone.
The authors' abstract, grouped under plain headings from its own section labels.
Pai MBH, Yellapurkar S, Kulkarni SS et al. Beyond Aging: The Relationship Between Gerotranscendence and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life-A Scoping Review. International journal of dentistry. 2026. doi:10.1155/ijod/3541650. PMID: 42877429. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42877429/