This study aimed to evaluate gender differences in oral health behavior and general health habits in adults. The subjects were 207 males and 196 females aged 20-64 yrs who were public officials in the city or town administrations in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The questionnaire survey included three items: (1) self assessment of oral health status, (2) oral health behavior and (3) general health habits. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test for differences of responses between males and females. The proportion of subjects with cognition of symptoms of oral disease ranged from 14.3 to 23.0%. The percentage of those who had not visited a dentist in the last year were 52.7% for males and 36.7% for females (p < 0.01). Subjects who brushed their teeth almost every day at bed time were 60.9% of males and 88.8% of females (p < 0.01). A comparison of the numbers of positive responses regarding general health habits found no differences in the distribution of general health habits score between males and females. Examining the relationship between oral health behavior and general health habits revealed that males with general habit high scores tended to have positive oral hygiene behavior. These results support the thesis that gender specificities in oral health depend on individual attitudes to oral health and dental utilization. In addition, understanding the cognitive factors of males and females would accelerate dental approaches to modifying oral health behavior of both groups, thus contributing to lifelong health maintenance.

The present study suggests that dentures are one of the factors associated with mortality rates especially in female subjects with less than 10 functional teeth.

Background:To study how dental status can become a predictor of overall mortality risk.Methods: Community residents (n = 5730) over 40 years old in the Miyako Islands, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan were followed up for 15 years, 1987-2002. Functional tooth numbers were examined by dentists and overall mortalities of subjects with functional tooth numbers of <10 and 310 were compared in the age groups 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79 and 80 years or more in both males and females.Results: Groups of 80 years or more showed a significantly higher rate of overall mortality in subjects with functional tooth numbers of less than 10 than 10 or more, and there was no significant difference in the other age groups. Conclusion:The present study suggests that systemic attention to dental status should be recommended in older males.

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The ageing of populations worldwide is rapidly accelerating. However, the global burden of oral disease remains a critical and often underestimated problem. As ageing progresses globally, oral health maintenance becomes a matter not only of public health, but also of human rights. Therefore, in low-and middle-income countries, policymakers are seeking to realize universal health coverage even as they struggle with severe resource limitations. To achieve and maintain global oral health, we propose an ongoing global monitoring cycle consisting of the following four steps: needs assessment, implementation of appropriate health care systems and provisions, reducing the global burden of oral disease, and working to achieve a healthy ageing society. Rather than a unidirectional information flow from high income to low-and middle-income countries, the proposed system would establish a multidirectional information-sharing cycle that would benefit all countries. To make this possible, however, we must develop a standardized set of core oral health indicators that all countries use, as well as a global repository for gathering, compiling, and sharing the data. This system would allow each country to move forward at its own pace and in locally-appropriate ways, making it more effective and efficient in the long run than the current pattern of setting unrealistic goals that all countries are expected to achieve by a certain point in time.