Factors associated with perceived oral health status in older individuals

To assess factors associated with perception of oral health in older individuals.

A cross sectional study.

A densely populated urban area in Sri Lanka.

585 older adults aged 60 years and above of which 475 were living at home and 110 in institutions. The present analysis is limited to 235 subjects who were subjected to a clinical oral examination.

The data were collected by means of an interviewer-administered questionnaire and a clinical oral examination.

Overall, 48% of the dentate and 42% of the edentate perceived their oral health as poor. The final model of the hierarchical logistic regression analysis for the dentate revealed that presence of retained roots, mobile teeth, >20 missing teeth and perceived need for dental care were significantly associated with poor perceived oral health status. For the edentate, perceived need for dental care, loss of taste sensation and difficulty in eating were significantly associated with poor perceived oral health status.

Factors associated with perceived oral health status differed between the dentate and the edentate. Clinical oral health indicators emerged as significant predictors of perceived oral health status in the dentate although the explanatory power of these indicators on perception of oral health was low.