["Oral healthiness score for 8020" predicts loss of teeth in village residents].
OBJECTIVE
It is important for people to maintain an appropriate lifestyle through out life to enjoy a healthy life. We have already developed a health check questionnaire, "8020 Oral Healthiness Score", in an endeavor to help people aged 80 keep more than 20 teeth. The health check consists of ten questions chosen from our previous residents' study. Named the "Sawayaka Score" it has been in use since 1999. In the present study, we focused on the results of a three-year follow-up to determine whether the Score may predict tooth loss for screening purposes.


METHODS
A total of 716 village residents who participated in medical and dental checkups in 1999 as the baseline year were followed in T village of Aichi-Prefecture. The total numbers of teeth lost were examined after 1-, 2- and 3-years and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were generated for analysis of screening.


RESULTS
At the 1999 baseline, the average number of retained teeth was 23.7 +/- 6.2 (mean +/- standard error) (23.0 +/- 6.8 in males, and 24.4 +/- 5.5 in females), and the average oral health score (mean +/- standard error) was 13.1 +/- 3.9 points (12.8 +/- 4.0 in males, 13.4 +/- 3.9 in females). A low score of 4-8 at the baseline predicted major tooth loss, while an average score was associated with loss of only one or 2 teeth loss in the residents. The present study confirms that persons with a favorable lifestyle tend to retain more teeth.


CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the 8020 Oral Healthiness Score is a useful tool to support residents' oral health promotion and predict tooth loss.
Kumagai
Noriko
N
Department of Preventive Dentistry and Dental Public Health, School of Dentistry, Aichi-Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan.
Morita
Ichizo
I
Nakagaki
Haruo
H
Toyama
Atsushi
A
Kobayashi
Matsumi
M
Shimozato
Miho
M
Matasuhisa
Katsuhiko
K
Watanabe
Shizuo
S
Watanabe
Tsuyoshi
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology*