All indexed articles in BBO, LILACS, and MEDLINE databases from January 1998 to July 2001 were searched to analyze information on oral health among the elderly in Brazil. The year 1998 was used as a starting point, since this was the year the National Epidemiological Survey was published. Twenty-nine articles were found, of which 7 were analyzed in detail regarding key methodological aspects (age, sampling, data presentation) and the results were presented (DMFT index, proportion of missing teeth, edentulousness rate, and use and need of dental prostheses). DMFT ranged from 26.8 to 31.0, with approximately 84% of teeth missing. Prevalence of edentulousness was 68%. Few elderly did not need or use any kind of prosthesis. Denture use was more frequent in the upper than in the lower jaw. Lack of standardized data hampered an understanding of some key aspects of data analysis. Both data presentation and methodology must be improved in future research in this area. Despite all these caveats, the literature review confirmed the poor oral health of the Brazilian elderly population.