Objectives: A systematic review was undertaken to assess (1) the current oral health and prosthetic conditions of Chinese adults, and (2) changes in these conditions over the last 25 years.
Materials and Methods: The literature (1980-2005) was searched using PubMed combining the keyword "China" with either "Dental health survey", "Oral health", "Tooth loss", "DMFT", "Dental prosthesis", or "Dentures". Two independent reviewers selected papers in English and Chinese. Outcome data, being mean values (standard deviations), or proportions (standard errors) of 'DMFT', 'components of DMFT', and 'teeth present' were subjected to ANOVAs. Independent variables were 'age' (35-70, with 5-yrs intervals), 'place of residence' (urban and rural), and 'year of data collection' (≤ 1990, and >1990).
Results: After two selection steps (first step: Kappa = 0.73±0.06; second step: Kappa = 0.83±0.08), 19 papers remained out of 281 hits. Additional hand search revealed 3 more papers to be included. Articles describing the same populations were grouped, so eventually 12 studies remained. Outcomes were independent from the variable 'year of data collection'. DMFT increased with age (p=0.0001). Rurals presented higher DMFT and 'Decayed' (p=0.003). 'Decayed' increased sharp for subjects ≥ 45 years. The number of present teeth decreased with increasing age (p=0.0002). Overall means for 'Missing' and 'teeth present' showed that Chinese of 65 yrs have about 20 teeth. Urban subjects had more 'teeth present' (p=0.05), although no difference was seen for 'Missing' (p=0.22). Data on prosthetic care were not found. 'Filled' remained constantly low for all ages (p=0.99), for urban as well as for rural subjects (p=0.25), indicating unchanged limited care.
Conclusions: Oral health and prosthetic situation of Chinese adults did not change in recent 25 years.