Adult Dental Health Survey 2009: association between oral health outcomes and living arrangements of older adults in the UK.

Abstract

Introduction Considering the growing ageing populations and the impact of oral health in the wellbeing of older adults, there is a need for understanding dental care utilisation among this group. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between living arrangements, oral health status and dental care utilisation of older adults in the UK.Design In this study, complete case analyses were carried out for the Adult Dental Health Survey (ADHS) 2009 wave including 1,251 older adults aged 75 years and over. Logistic regression analyses were carried out to explore the relationship between living arrangements and oral health outcomes of older adults.Results Findings from this study show that almost half (45.2%) of the study population were living alone at the time the ADHS 2009 data were collected. At P <0.05, older adults living alone were more likely to have a denture (OR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.09, 1.79), poor self-rated oral health status (OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.00, 1.64) and poor dental care attendance (OR = 1.60-95% CI 1.35, 2.15) compared to those that lived with someone.Conclusions Living arrangements as a form of social support seems to play a role in understanding the accessibility of dental care for older adults.