Forty-five-year tooth survival probabilities among men in Oslo, Norway

Changes in tooth survival probabilities over a person's lifetime have remained largely unexplored. The goal of this study was to evaluate changes in the 45-year tooth survival probabilities in a cohort of 565 Norwegian males who were examined in 1969 as young adults, and followed up into mid-life (examination years and sample sizes (n): 1971 (n = 381), 1973 (n = 292), 1975 (n = 245), 1981 (n = 228), 1988 (n = 202), and 1995 (n = 223). The results indicated that the tooth survival probabilities varied considerably both (i) among teeth within individuals, and (ii) over time. The 45-year survival probabilities for the 28 teeth fell into the following ranges: larger than 95% for incisors and cuspids; between 84% and 92% for premolars; and between 59% and 96% for molars. Over the first 4 post-eruptive decades, the tooth mortality risks (excluding orthodontic extractions) were: 1st decade, 2.0% (from 1.7 to 2.4%); 2nd decade, 0.2% (from 0.1 to 0.4%); 3rd decade, 0.6% (from 0.4 to 0.8%); and 4th decade, 1.1% (from 0.8 to 1.5%). The tooth mortality risks in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th decades were probably somewhat underestimated (due to dropout bias), suggesting that the true underlying tooth mortality hazard function may have been V-shaped. The conclusions were that the tooth mortality hazard during the first 4 post-eruptive decades was bathtub-shaped and that it varied considerably among teeth within individuals.