The relationship between oral health and oral health related quality of life among elderly people in United Kingdom.
To identify the determinants of OHRQoL among older people in the United Kingdom.



A subset of elderly (≥65year) participants from the UK Adult Dental Health Survey 2009 data was used. OHRQoL was assessed by means of the OHIP-14 additive score. The number of missing teeth; presence of active caries, dental pain, root caries, tooth wear, periodontal pockets>4mm, loss of attachment>9mm; having PUFA>0 (presence of severely decayed teeth with visible pulpal involvement, ulceration caused by dislocated tooth fragments, fistula and abscess); and wearing a denture were used as predictor variables. Age, gender, marital status, education level, occupation and presence of any long standing illness were used as control variables. Multivariate zero-inflated Poisson regression analysis was performed using R-project statistical software.



A total of 1277 elderly participants were included. The weighted mean(SE) OHIP-14 score of these participants was 2.95 (0.17). Having active caries (IRR=1.37, CI=1.25;1.50), PUFA>0 (IRR=1.17, CI=1.05;1.31), dental pain (IRR=1.34, CI=1.20;1.50), and wearing dentures (IRR=1.30, CI=1.17;1.44), were significantly positively associated with OHIP-14 score. Having periodontal pockets>4mm, at least one bleeding site, and anterior tooth wear were not significantly associated with the OHIP-14 score.



Whereas previous research has suggested a moderate relationship between oral disease and quality of life in this large scale survey of older adults, the presence of active caries and the presence of one or more of the PUFA indicators are associated with impaired oral health related quality of life in older adults, but not indicators of periodontal status. The implication of this is that whilst focussing on prevention of disease, there is an ongoing need for oral health screening and treatment in this group.
Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Australia; Centre of Population Oral Health and Clinical Prevention, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia; Division of Population & Patient Health, Dental Institute, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Community Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku, Finland. Electronic address: m.masood@latrobe.edu.au.
Mohd
M
Masood
Division of Population & Patient Health, Dental Institute, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Tim
T
Newton
Centre of Population Oral Health and Clinical Prevention, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
Noor Nazahiah
NN
Bakri
Restorative Dentistry Department, Cardiff University, United Kingdom.
Taimur
T
Khalid
Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Australia; Centre of Population Oral Health and Clinical Prevention, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
Yaghma
Y
Masood
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004245:DMF Index; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D003778:Dentures; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009909:Oral Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000453:epidemiology; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life; D017213:Root Caries / Q000453:epidemiology; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology; D057085:Tooth Wear / Q000453:epidemiology; D014098:Toothache / Q000453:epidemiology; D006113:United Kingdom
Dental caries; Dental pain; Elderly; National survey; Oral health related quality of life; PUFA