The purpose of this study was to obtain percentile curves for present teeth in smokers and non-smokers for use in oral health education. Dental examinations were carried out by two dentists. The number of present teeth in each subject was counted, excluding the third molars. Subjects consisted of 2,283 men aged between 25 and 54 years enrolled in the health insurance union of a bank in Yokohama, Japan. Each subject completed a questionnaire on smoking habits and number of cigarettes smoked. They were classified into two groups: smokers and non-smokers. The mean number of present teeth in both groups was compared with the Mann-Whitney's U test. Smokers had fewer teeth than non-smokers in all age groups (pϽ0.05). At the age of 50, the 50th percentile for present teeth was 26 for smokers and 27 for non-smokers. However, the 3rd percentile for smokers' present teeth was 20.5 at 40 years of age and 14 at 50 years of age, while for non-smokers it was 22.5 at 40 years of age and 19 at 50 years of age. The 3rd percentile curve for smokers' present teeth decreased in those aged 45 years and over. The percentile curves in this analysis showed a clear difference between the two groups. These data should be made available for use in adult oral health education.

Abstract:The purpose of this study was to determine the percentile curves for the numbers of permanent teeth and to examine their significance in oral health promotion and their utilization in oral health education for adults and elderly people.The percentile curves were estimated by cumulative frequency distribution of missing permanent teeth from 10,249 subjects aged 10-79 yr, reported by the National Survey of Dental Disease (Japan, 1987). The results were as follows.1) Age differences in missing teeth were observed clearly on the rate of persons with a few numbers of missing teeth (less than approximately 5 teeth, Fig. 1) and high percentile levels (more than 50 percentile level, Fig. 2) when the subjects were divided into two age groups of less or more than 40-44 years.2) Regression analysis showed that the percentile values of missing permanent teeth were in conformity with an exponential curve (Fig. 2).3) Percentile curves for the numbers of permanent teeth were widely distributed and divided into the areas between 3-97 percentile curves with similar intervals (Fig. 3).4) The percentile curves showed profiles similar to the survival rate curves of human life and reflected suitably the trends of aging in oral health status and the present distribution in permanent dentition.These results show that the percentile curves for the numbers of permanent teeth are a useful index for planning and evaluting oral health promotion and are an effective parameter in the counselling for oral health.

For the evaluation of physical growth in children, percentile curves have been widely

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