Two year incidence of tooth loss among South Australians aged 60+ years

UnlabelledTooth loss diminishes oral function and quality of life, and national health targets aim to reduce population levels of tooth loss.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to determine tooth loss incidence and predictors of tooth loss among older adults in South Australia.MethodsData were obtained from a cohort study of a stratified random sample of community-dwelling dentate people aged 60+ years. Interviews and oral examinations were conducted among 911 individuals at baseline and among 693 of them (76.1%) 2 years later. Incidence rates and relative risks were calculated for population subgroups and multivariate logistic regression was used to construct risk prediction models. A method was developed to calculate 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for relative risks (RR) from logistic regression models using a Taylor series approximation.ResultsSome 19.5% (95% CI = 15.4-23.6%) of people lost one or more teeth during the 2 years. Men, people with a recent extraction, people who brushed their teeth infrequently, smokers and people born outside Australia had significantly (P ConclusionsThe findings from this population suggest that a history of smoking contributes to tooth loss through mechanisms in addition to clinical disease processes alone