Age, gender, dentures and oral mucosal disorders.

The numbers of participants over 75 years of age in previous studies of oral health have not been sufficient to permit a full investigation of the influence of age on the mouth. In this study a disproportionate stratified random sample of 255 independent elders was selected from a list of urban voters to provide similar numbers of men and women in three age groups. The subjects were interviewed and examined, and nearly half of them had mucosal disorders. There was a significant (P < 0.05) association between mucosal lesions and the use of dentures and tobacco, whereas stomatitis, denture-related hyperplasia and angular cheilitis in particular were associated significantly with men and with the use of defective dentures. Logistic regression revealed that neither age alone nor the quality of dentures predispose to mucosal lesions, but that the odds of finding stomatitis, denture-related hyperplasia and angular cheilitis in particular increased about three-fold in denture-users, and almost doubled in men.