The relationship between clinical dental status and oral impacts in an elderly population

To investigate the relationship between oral health-related quality of life and clinical dental measures in an elderly Greek population.

A cross-sectional survey was carried out of adults aged 65 years or older living independently in Athens. Data were collected through clinical examination and interviews. Oral health-related quality of life was assessed through the Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) indicator. The sample consisted of 681 participants. Data analysis used non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and multiple logistic regressions).

The response rate was 87.8%. Dentate participants with 1-10 teeth were 2.05 (1.25, 3.35) times and those with 11-20 teeth were 1.81 (1.11, 2.95) times more likely to report oral impacts than subjects with 21 or more teeth. Participants with anterior tooth spaces were 2.86 (1.70, 4.80) times more likely to report oral impacts than those without anterior spaces. Participants with 0-8 natural occluding pairs (NOPs) were 1.72 (1.14, 2.58) times and those with 0-3 posterior occluding pairs (POPs) were 1.57 (1.04, 2.36) times more likely to experience oral impacts than subjects with 9-16 NOPs and 4-10 POPs respectively. Decayed teeth were not significantly related to the presence of oral impacts. Edentulous participants with inadequate denture adaptation were 2.59 (1.46, 4.59) times, those with inadequate denture retention 2.41 (1.39, 4.17) times and those with denture overextension 2.51 (1.10, 5.74) times more likely to report oral impacts than subjects without the respective denture deficiencies.

Clinical indicators of oral health status were significantly related to measures of oral health-related quality of life.