OBJECTIVE: To analyze whether social relations during a 7-year follow-up influence oral health among generally healthy, community-dwelling persons over the age of 80 years. METHOD: The present investigation is based on a subsample of 129 dentate community-dwelling individuals from The Kungsholmen Elders Oral Health Study (KEOHS), which included data from interviews and oral examinations. Social relations were measured in terms of marital status, living alone, frequency of contacts, number of confidants, and satisfaction with social contacts and with the frequency of contacts. Oral health was measured in terms of coronal caries and root caries. RESULTS: The primary findings of the adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis were that persons who lived alone or who became alone during the 7 years prior to the dental examination had greater odds of having coronal caries (odds ratio (OR): 2.4, 95% CI: 1.0-5.7) than those who continually lived with others, and that persons who were continuously dissatisfied with the frequency of their social contacts were more likely to have root caries than those who reported a sustained satisfaction with the frequency of their social contacts (OR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.2-7.2). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that social relations are related to the oral health status of old-old individuals. From a psychosocial perspective, our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the background of oral health status in older adults.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze whether social relations during a 7-year follow-up influence oral health among generally healthy, community-dwelling persons over the age of 80 years. METHOD: The present investigation is based on a subsample of 129 dentate community-dwelling individuals from The Kungsholmen Elders Oral Health Study (KEOHS), which included data from interviews and oral examinations. Social relations were measured in terms of marital status, living alone, frequency of contacts, number of confidants, and satisfaction with social contacts and with the frequency of contacts. Oral health was measured in terms of coronal caries and root caries. RESULTS: The primary findings of the adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis were that persons who lived alone or who became alone during the 7 years prior to the dental examination had greater odds of having coronal caries (odds ratio (OR): 2.4, 95% CI: 1.0-5.7) than those who continually lived with others, and that persons who were continuously dissatisfied with the frequency of their social contacts were more likely to have root caries than those who reported a sustained satisfaction with the frequency of their social contacts (OR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.2-7.2). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that social relations are related to the oral health status of old-old individuals. From a psychosocial perspective, our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the background of oral health status in older adults.
Authors: André V Ritter; John S Preisser; Yunro Chung; James D Bader; Daniel A Shugars; Bennett T Amaechi; Sonia K Makhija; Kimberly A Funkhouser; William M Vollmer Journal: Clin Oral Investig Date: 2011-12-24 Impact factor: 3.573
Authors: Suely Maria Rodrigues; Ana Cristina Oliveira; Andréa Maria Duarte Vargas; Allyson Nogueira Moreira; Efigênia Ferreira E Ferreira Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2012-01-04 Impact factor: 3.390
Authors: Sandra A Hewlett; Alfred E Yawson; Benedict N L Calys-Tagoe; Nirmala Naidoo; Pamela Martey; Somnath Chatterji; Paul Kowal; George Mensah; Nadia Minicuci; Richard B Biritwum Journal: BMC Oral Health Date: 2015-04-09 Impact factor: 2.757
Authors: Ingela Grönbeck-Linden; Catharina Hägglin; Anita Petersson; Per O Linander; Lars Gahnberg Journal: J Int Soc Prev Community Dent Date: 2016-05-30