Comparison of Self-Reported and Objective Dental Health in Irish Adults

Objectives: Self-reported oral health data is relatively convenient to collect, but it is unclear how well it reflects objective measurements. The aim of this study was to compare older adults’ own assessment with dentist-observed measurements of dental status.
Methods: An opportunistic sample of 2504 adults over 50 years old had an oral health assessment using WHO criteria. Subjects were part of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and had assessed their own general and dental health with a computer-assisted personal interview.
Results: There was little difference between subjects who rated their dental health as Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor in terms of mean numbers of teeth (19.9, 19.1, 16.9, 16.6, 16.7) or DMFT. 79% of subjects with Excellent dental health had 10 or more occlusal contacts, compared to 66%, 50%, 42% and 36% of those with Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor dental health. Those who reported any mouth/denture problem had a mean of 15.2 teeth and 7.5 occlusal contacts; those with no difficulty had 18 teeth and 10 contacts. Subjects with difficulty eating, speaking or smiling had significantly fewer occlusal contacts than those without functional difficulty. Subjects who attended a dental visit more frequently than every 2 years had a higher mean number of teeth (20.9) and occlusal contacts (10.8) compared to those who visited less frequently (18.3 teeth, 8.6 contacts) and those who ‘never’ attended (14.2 teeth, 5.3 contacts). Frequent dental attenders were more likely to have a healthy periodontal index score and less periodontal pocketing.
Conclusions: There is no direct relationship between older adults’ own assessment of their dental health or functional difficulties and simple measurements such as tooth number, DMFT or periodontal index. Maintaining (at least 10) functional occlusal contacts may be a useful principle to support perceived dental health and reduce functional difficulties.