IADR Abstract Archives

Oral Status is Associated With Eating Difficulty in Thai Elderly

Objectives: The number of elderly in Thailand is currently increasing. To create the appropriate oral health services and oral health policies for them requires understanding the associations between dental service utilization (DSU), oral status, and oral health-related quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the association between oral status and eating difficulty, adjusting for social backgrounds, chronic health conditions, and DSU in Thai elderly.
Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the 8th Thai National Oral Health Survey. Data on 4,130 Thai elderly were collected through interviews and oral examinations. The association between social backgrounds, chronic health conditions, DSU, and oral status; and eating difficulty were investigated using chi-square and logistic regression models.
Results: Of the elderly aged 60 to 74 years-old, 52.7% had eating difficulty. Social backgrounds comprising age, income, education, and social welfare were significantly associated with eating difficulty. DSU was significantly associated with eating difficulty. Among the oral statuses evaluated, the number of teeth and occlusal pairs were significantly associated with eating difficulty. A multiple logistic regression analysis determined that elderly with high income, did not utilize dental service in the previous year, and had more than 27 teeth and 8 occlusal pairs were less likely to have eating difficulty compared with their counterparts after adjusting for confounders.
Conclusions: Eating difficulty was associated with the number of teeth and posterior occlusal pairs, while an association between prosthesis status and eating difficulty was not found.

2020 South East Asia Division Meeting (Virtual)

2020
P029
Behavioral, Epidemiologic and Health Services Research
  • Harirugsakul, Punkanit  ( Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University , Bangkok , Thailand )
  • Kaewkamnerdpong, Issarapong  ( Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University , Bangkok , Thailand )
  • Krisdapong, Sudaduang  ( Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University , Bangkok , Thailand )
  • NONE
    Poster Session
    Poster 3 (Senior Hatton)
    Thursday, 11/26/2020 , 02:30PM - 03:00PM