Negative impacts of self-reported five-year incident tooth loss and number of teeth on oral health-related quality of life

Abstract

Aims and Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the impacts of five-year incident tooth loss on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in Southern Thai adults and the differences in OHRQoL regarding the number of teeth. Materials and Methods: The study samples included 657 dentate men and women, aged 35–65 years. The Thai version of the Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP) index was used to assess oral impacts. The number of teeth was grouped as 1–19 versus ≥20 teeth. Self-reported five-year incident tooth loss was classified as none, 1–2 teeth, or ≥3 teeth. Odd ratio (OR) and 95% confident interval (CI) were presented. All analyses were carried out using STATA software, version 13.1. Results: Approximately 22% of participants had fewer than 20 teeth. More than half (54%) of the participants had lost ≥ 1 tooth. OIDP were experienced by approximately 54% of participants, where impacts on eating were frequently reported. Adjusted multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that ≥3 lost teeth and having 1–19 retained teeth was significantly associated with the greater prevalence of oral impacts (OR = 9.80; 95% CI = 2.96–32.51). Conclusion: Tooth loss and its impacts affecting daily life were common among these study samples. The largest effect on impaired OHRQoL was presented by those with fewer teeth and a greater number of incident tooth loss during the past five years.