title: A history of frequent dental care reduces the risk of tooth loss but not periodontitis in older subjects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Information on the significance of dental care in older adults is limited. We hypothesized that regular dental visits has an effect on the number of remaining teeth and periodontal conditions in older subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  1020 randomly selected individuals age 60 - 96 from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care Blekinge received a comprehensive oral health examination.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dentate women and men had, on average 18.4 teeth (SD +7.6,) and 18.9 teeth (SD + 7.5) respectively (NS). In the youngest group (60 and 66 years old) with less than one dental visit per year, 37% had >20 teeth, compared with 73% among those with at least annual visits. Among the old-old, comparable figures were 1.8 % and 37% respectively. Across age groups, bleeding on probing was 23 %.When adjusting for age, and number of teeth GLM univariate analysis failed to demonstrate an effect of dental visit frequency on alveolar bone loss (p = 0.18), the number of periapical lesions (p = 0.65), or the number of endodontically treated teeth ( p = 0.41). Frequent dental visitors had more teeth than infrequent visitors (p = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tooth loss and alveolar bone loss severity increase with age. Individuals with regular dental visits retained more teeth but the frequency of dental visits had no impact on plaque deposits, gingival inflammation, or alveolar bone levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden. stefan.renvert@hkr.se
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Renvert
authors.forename: Rigmor E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.forename: G Rutger
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Persson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D016321:Dental Care for Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*