IADR Abstract Archives
Number of Teeth and Quality of Life in Older People
Objectives: To assess the impact of having teeth on related dimensions of quality of life in rural older people.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 427 older people aged 60 years and above residing in rural area in Northern Thailand. Data were collected using clinical examination and a face-to face interview using a questionnaire. Clinical examination was the assessment of number of remaining teeth and the number of posterior occluding pair (POPs). Data on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) were collected using Thai version of the Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP). Descriptive statistics and Logistic regression were performed.
Results: Mean age of subjects was 70.3±7.9. Mean number of remaining teeth was 18.8±9.1. 64.8% had more than 20 remaining teeth. 40% had POPs more than 3 pairs. Overall, 39.8 % of subjects had experiences at least one oral impacts in the last 6 months. There were no statistically significant differences in the perception of the impact in quality of life between genders nor age (p> 0.05). Oral health's influence on quality of life was perceived to be largely physical rather than social or psychological. Eating was reported as the highest oral impact (35.6%). Subjects who had more than 20 teeth had significantly lesser impact than the group with 1 –10 teeth and 11-20 teeth (p=0.022). Those who had more than three POPs had significantly lesser oral impacts than those who had three or less POPs (p=0.002)
Conclusions: Oral health related quality of life in rural older people significantly influenced by number of remaining teeth and posterior occluding pairs. Oral rehabilitation to replace tooth loss should be provided to improve their quality of life.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 427 older people aged 60 years and above residing in rural area in Northern Thailand. Data were collected using clinical examination and a face-to face interview using a questionnaire. Clinical examination was the assessment of number of remaining teeth and the number of posterior occluding pair (POPs). Data on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) were collected using Thai version of the Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP). Descriptive statistics and Logistic regression were performed.
Results: Mean age of subjects was 70.3±7.9. Mean number of remaining teeth was 18.8±9.1. 64.8% had more than 20 remaining teeth. 40% had POPs more than 3 pairs. Overall, 39.8 % of subjects had experiences at least one oral impacts in the last 6 months. There were no statistically significant differences in the perception of the impact in quality of life between genders nor age (p> 0.05). Oral health's influence on quality of life was perceived to be largely physical rather than social or psychological. Eating was reported as the highest oral impact (35.6%). Subjects who had more than 20 teeth had significantly lesser impact than the group with 1 –10 teeth and 11-20 teeth (p=0.022). Those who had more than three POPs had significantly lesser oral impacts than those who had three or less POPs (p=0.002)
Conclusions: Oral health related quality of life in rural older people significantly influenced by number of remaining teeth and posterior occluding pairs. Oral rehabilitation to replace tooth loss should be provided to improve their quality of life.