A total of 104 elderly persons between the ages of 60 and 89 were examined at the "Geraldo de Paula Sousa" Health Center, São Paulo, State of São Paulo. The state of their oral health was very poor, insofar as 4.29 (71.5%) of the sextants were shown to be null, while 0.12 and 0.13 sextants showed deep periodontal pockets > or = 6 mm in the ages from 60-70 and more than 70 years of age, respectively. The level of knowledge about periodontal disease and dental plaque was very deficient; only about 52% of the population under study reported having visited a dentist in the last two years. We conclude that greater odontological attention is needed for the elderly age group, as there are no large-scale community service centers in Brazil for this population group.