In a stratified multi-stage random sample, 1600 persons of 60 years and older in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, were investigated for periodontal conditions using the CPITN method. Periodontal conditions seemed to deteriorate steadily but rather slowly with increasing age. In the older age groups, there was a trend for an increased proportion of both subjects and sextants scoring CPITN code 4 (deep pockets). The increase in tooth loss with increasing age was more clearly visible: increasing percentages of edentulousness and decreasing mean numbers of teeth remaining in dentate subjects.