| Summary: | 博士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 牙醫學研究所 === 101 === Objective: The purposes of this study were (1) to evaluate the impact of oral health behaviors, oral habits and self-perceived health status on the dental health in older Taiwanese adults and the age and gender disparity in those impacts, and (2) to evaluate a screening test based on a food intake questionnaire to discriminate the masticatory ability of Taiwanese older adults with 20 and more natural teeth and at least 8 functional tooth units (high dentition group) from the masticatory ability of those who were not high dentition group (low dentition group)
Methods: The subjects were 2071 dentate patients, aged 45 years old and over, recruited from 23 counties and cities in Taiwan for the first purpose. After recruiting dentate patients, 2244 patients were selected for the second purpose. A dental examination and questionnaire were conducted in the dental clinics. Demographic data, oral health behaviors, oral habits, self-perceived health and masticatory ability were collected via questionnaires. Dentition status was assessed by dental examination. Masticatory ability was measured for 23 food groups comprising 35 common Taiwanese foods. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine predictors correlated with poor tooth retention for the first purpose. Receiver operation characteristic curve analysis was performed for the second purpose.
Results: The results for the first purpose showed that subjects who were low dentition group were more likely to be older and to exhibit low educational levels, less frequent use of dental floss, current smoking habits, betel nut ex-chewer, bad self-perceived dental health, and the subjects who were low dentition group were less likely to be current betel nut chewers. Moreover, more impacts of oral health behaviors, oral habits and self-perceived health status on the dental health was found in older age group. No gender disparity of those impacts was observed.
Conclusions: First, these results underscore the importance of the use of dental floss and confirm the adverse effects of smoking on dental health, especially for the older age group. In addition, though betel nut chewing may help retain teeth, it should not be encouraged due to carcinogenicity. Hence, to achieve the goal of maintaining 20 or more NT and at least 8 FTUs, the dental profession should continue to encourage proper oral health behaviors and oral habits, especially for the elderly. Second, foods that are the most difficult to eat are not necessarily good discriminatory indicators. Hence, the 14-food group questionnaire can be considered the best screening test for masticatory ability of Taiwanese older adults in terms of the presence of 20 and more natural teeth (NT) and at least 8 functional tooth units (FTUs).
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