Retained roots: Incidence and its impact on Quality of Life

Objective: To identify if the presence of new retained roots in a three years period is associated with higher scores of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14-sp) in home-dwelling Mexican elders controlling by sex, age, schooling, xerostomia, hypertension, severe periodontitis, diabetes, osteoporosis, dental condition, cognitive impairment, and self-rate of general health.

Method: Cohort study in a sample of elders’ ≥70 years living in one district of Mexico City. Sample size was 1294, 1124 were interviewed, 838 were clinically evaluated and followed for three years, 534 completed the follow up. Dependent variable: OHRQoL measured with a short version of the Oral Health Impact Profile validated in Spanish (OHIP-14-Sp) a cutoff point in third quartile was selected. Independent variables:  retained root (tooth that were missing 1/3 or less of their coronal structure), severe periodontitis (≥2 teeth with ≥5mm attachment loss), self-report of diabetes, hypertension, (Yes/no), osteoporosis, self-report of general health (excellent-good/bad-very bad), xerostomia, dental number of teeth, cognitive impairment (score of the Minimental State Examination). Univariate analysis and a logistic regression model (LRM) were performed.

Result: Percent of women 55.1%, 44% 1-6 years of schooling, mean age 78.2±6.4incidence of retained roots 11.6% OHIP-14-sp min=0 max=43 median = 4, mean 7.9±8.  The dependent variable was the dichotomized OHIP-14-sp, and the independent variables significant in the univariate analysis were included in the LRM. Persons with incident retained roots (OR=3.64; 95%CI=1.6-8), xerostomia (OR=1.7; 95%CI 1.1-2.9), severe periodontitis (OR=1.8; 95%CI 1.01-3.3) and with no schooling (OR= 5.1; 1.4-19) were more likely to perceive a bad OHRQoL.

Conclusion: Incident retained roots are the expression of deficient oral care and have negative impact on OHRQoL.