Several earlier studies have suggested that development of coronary heart disease (CHD) is causally related to oral infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between oral health indicators and CHD deaths. Out of a nationally representative sample, 6527 men and women aged 30-69 years participated in the health examination with a dental check. Detailed oral health data included caries, periodontal and dental plaque status, presence of remaining teeth, and various types of dentures. Over a mean 12-year follow-up, persons dying of CHD were older and more often smoked, had hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and only a basic education compared with other persons. In univariate analyses, several oral health indicators were associated with CHD deaths. Adjustment for the established CHD risk factors reduced all these associations to statistical non-significance. The associations between oral health indicators and CHD are mostly explained by confounding factors, particularly those relating to health behavior.

Using a representative sample of 5028 dentulous Finnish adults the occurrence of periodontal pockets was studied separately for the maxillae and the mandibles among removable partial denture (RPD) wearers and non-wearers. RPD(s) were worn in 11.2% of the 3444 maxillae with at least four natural teeth remaining, and in 7.7% of the 4706 corresponding mandibles (P less than 0.001). Periodontal pockets were more frequently observed in maxillae than mandibles. Wearing of RPDs highly significantly (P less than 0.0001) increased the odds of having periodontal pockets in general (4 mm or more) as well as the odds of having deeper periodontal pockets (exceeding 6 mm). This phenomenon was observed both in the maxillae and in the mandibles. These results suggest that wearing of RPD is a threat to periodontal tissues and that dentists should take care to frequently recall their patients fitted with RPD(s). During the recall visits more attention should be paid to the periodontal conditions of patients wearing RPD(s).

A sample of 8000 persons was drawn to represent the Finnish population aged 30 years and over. The participation rate was 89.9%. Root caries was recorded when the lesion was obviously soft and more than half of it was located on cementum. Lesions adjacent to fillings were not included. The reproducibility and the standard of the clinical recordings were tested by reexamining 20% of the studied population 2-6 months after the first clinical examination. The overall prevalence of root caries was 21.6% for men and 14.5% for women. The prevalence increased for both sexes almost consistently with age. Root caries was found 1.6 times more often among men than women. Among men 2.23% and among women 1.19% of teeth were affected by root caries.

We evaluated caries increment in connection with salivary caries-related findings and dental status in teenagers by carrying out a retrospective follow-up, lasting on average 28 months. A total of 66 adolescents, mean age 15.2 years, were selected by their susceptibility to caries, as clinically defined at a routine checkup. Their baseline DMFT was 5.7, compared to 4.3 in the root population of 230 patients. Increment of caries on selected surfaces (ΔDFSs) included new caries reaching the dentine and new fillings done due to such caries. ΔDFSs > 0 was taken as the validation criterion to define a caries case. Screening criteria for salivary tests were set as follows: flow rate of unstimulated saliva less than 0.2 ml/min, and of stimulated saliva less than 1.0 ml/min; buffering capacity: final pH below 4.5, mutans streptococci (SM) score of 2 or 3 (≥ 10⁵ CFU/ml), and lactobacilli (LB) score of 5 or 6 (≥10⁵ CFU/ml). Mean ΔDFSs per subject was 1.1, with 70% of these new DF findings being on occlusal surfaces. ΔDFSs was correlated with LB (0.31) for both genders, for boys only with buffering capacity (––0.34), and for girls only with flow rate of stimulated saliva (––0.28) and DMFT (0.35). The highest sensitivities of salivary tests for caries were shown by LB (0.82) and SM (0.64), their specificities being 0.63 and 0.59, respectively. Positive predictive values of the five tests varied between 0.69 and 0.89. Predictions based on DMFT showed a sensitivity of 0.87 for DMFT > 3, but only of 0.33 for DMFT > 7, the corresponding specificities being 0.44 and 0.81.

Of a representative sample of 8000 persons aged 30 and over living in Finland, 3875 users of removable dentures were examined. The condition of the oral mucosa was recorded during clinical examinations. The prevalence of oral mucosal lesions associated with removable dentures was analyzed according to age, sex, place of residence, geographical region of living, and type and location of prosthesis. Lesions were found in about 50% of the denture wearers. Women were affected more often than men. The prevalence of lesions decreased with age and differed slightly according to region of living and place of residence. Compared with the wearing of partial dentures, wearing complete dentures increased the risk of lesions. Only one of the 72 denture users who wore a denture with metallic base plate had oral mucosal lesions associated with wearing a denture.