Various epidemiological investigations have shown the high prevalence and incidence of caries in geriatric populations. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the dental status and some salivary parameters of elderly French subjects institutionalised in a geriatric hospital. The study population included 117 subjects (31 males and 86 females) who were neither demented nor edentulous, with a mean age of 83.0 years (SD = 7.8). Crown and root caries were recorded according to a modified caries activity index on 17,442 surfaces (9 surfaces per tooth: 5 crown surfaces and 4 root surfaces). The 17,442 surfaces examined corresponded to 1,938 teeth. The mean number of teeth per subject was 16.6 (SD = 7.6), more teeth remaining in the mandible than in the maxilla. The 2,985 unsound root surfaces showed a high percentage of active lesions (31.2 per cent) and a low percentage of filled root surfaces (4.5 per cent). Crowns and roots also presented a high percentage of destroyed surfaces: 1,446 destroyed surfaces, 8.3 per cent of the examined surfaces. Salivary parameters (flow rate and buffer capacity) were also recorded. Stimulated salivary flow rate had a relationship with crown caries (linear regression and analysis of covariance), and buffer capacity with root caries (analysis of variance and covariance). The data illustrate critical treatment needs in French geriatric institutions. This situation, which appears to differ from previous reports in European and US elderly people, may be related to French specificities concerning oral health status and/or care policy, but also to the usually very old population.