Associations between oral health status and risk of fractures in elder adults

Abstract

Oral health condition, bone mineral density, skeletal muscle mass, fall, fracture, and frailty seem to be strongly interconnected. This study aimed to investigate associations between probability of osteoporotic fractures and oral health in the elderly. In total, 2322 Korean subjects from the 2008—2009 Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey aged over 65 years were included. The 10-year probabilities of major and hip fractures were calculated using the Fracture Risk Assessment (FRAX) tool. Data on anthropometry, skeletal bone mineral density, sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity, individual history of fractures and falls, parental history of osteoporosis, number of teeth, metabolic syndrome, the Decayed, Missing, and Filled permanent Teeth index, and Community Periodontal Index (CPI), were collected. Participants were classified into three groups based on FRAX score for major osteoporotic fractures. A multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to analyze associations between FRAX scores and oral health-related factors, adjusting for confounding factors. BMI, presence of metabolic syndrome, number of teeth, dental patterns, and CPI score showed significant differences among three groups in males and females. Results from multivariate linear regression analysis demonstrated significant relationships between total tooth number and probabilities of fracture in male and female elderly. The interdisciplinary approach for handling osteoporosis and sarcopenia including dentists, physicians is necessary to facilitate a better quality of life in the elderly.

The mediating effect of nutrition on oral frailty and fall risk in community-dwelling elderly people

“…The findings indicate that oral frailty has a direct impact on the fall risk of the elderly and also indirectly affects it through nutrition. Previous studies [49][50][51] have mainly focused on the relationship between oral frailty, nutrition, and fall risk individually. This study contributes to the existing research by conducting a mediation analysis to explore the relationship between oral frailty, nutrition, and fall risk.…”

Physical Performance, Body Composition, and Oral Health in Community-Residing Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, a study in Korean older adults did not find a significant association between periodontal diseases and osteoporotic fracture risk. The authors indicated that the nature of the index used to evaluate periodontitis, which is affected by the number of teeth present, may have contributed to the lack of association [ 59 ].…”

Correlation between number of remaining teeth, oral health behavior, and oral frailty among 80-year-old population in Japan

“…Periodontal examination was performed using a method modi ed from the Community Periodontal Index, based on the criteria given by the WHO [9] , which includes bleeding on probing and pocket depth. Additionally, the number of remaining teeth, oral health conditions (dental plaque and tongue coating status on visual examination [10] ), and organoleptic malodors [11] were also measured.…”