Older Adults With Chronic Conditions at Higher Risk for Tooth Loss

A study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that older adults with certain chronic conditions are significantly more likely to suffer severe tooth loss compared to adults who do not have such ailments, reports Healio . Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Oral Health analyzed data from adults aged 50 or older twice collected in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The first sample, from 1999 to 2004, had 6,283 adults, while the second sample, from 2011 to 2016, included 7,443. From 2011 to 2016, among adults who had a dental exam, the respective prevalence of edentulism, severe tooth loss, and absent functional dentition was 10.8 percent, 16.9 percent, and 31.8 percent. The prevalence of edentulism and severe tooth loss was higher among older adults with each chronic condition, apart from obesity, versus subjects without chronic conditions. Results implied that the prevalence of edentulism was at least twice as high among those with fair or poor general health, emphysema, heart disease, or stroke history. Prevalence of severe tooth loss also was at least 50 percent higher among adults with fair or poor general health, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, diabetes, uncontrolled diabetes, emphysema, heart disease, liver condition, or stroke, versus those without the condition. Moreover, lack of functional dentition was at least 50 percent more prevalent among those reporting fair or poor general health, rheumatoid arthritis, emphysema, or heart disease than those not reporting the condition.