[Effectiveness of continuous good dental health cares contributing to 20 teeth retained]

This study was made to demonstrate what kinds of continuous care for dental health have teeth remained even at the elderly time. Questionnaires were mailed to 632 men retired from a company at the age of 60s or more, September-October in 1992. Of 424 cases recovered (67.1%), 414 (97.6%) i.e., 185 cases at the age of 60s, 172 of 70s, and 57 of over 80s, were subjected to analysis. All the subjects were classified into two groups. One is the group who has 20 teeth or more, the other having 19 teeth or less. Furthermore, each group was classified into three groups. The first group was no dental health care [DHC] group (group 1), the second one was starting DHC at the age of 20s or 30s (group 2), the third one was doing at the age of 40s or 50s (group 3). These groups were compared with each other group. Items related to dental health were developed by ourselves. Chi-square test was done to prove the relationship between the starting time of continuous DHC and retention teeth of 20 teeth or more in the three age groups. The following three items related to dental health care may contribute significantly to retention teeth of 20 teeth or more at each age group, 1) changing to new brush every 2 or 3 months (p < 0.01), 2) making an effort to have hard foods (p < 0.01), 3) having calcium-rich foods (p < 0.05).