Self-rated oral health among elderly patients attending a university dental hospital in Thailand: a telephone-based cross-sectional survey study

Abstract

Background Oral health perception is an influential predictor of both current and future health among the elderly. However, limited research has focused on self-rated oral health among older patients attending tertiary dental care. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the potential factors associated with self-rated oral health among elderly patients attending a university dental hospital in Thailand. Methods This telephone-based cross-sectional study was carried out among elderly patients older than 60 years who attended at least one dental visit at the university dental hospital in 2020. Hospital numbers (HN) were used to identify eligible candidates for this study. We calculated the sample size by assuming a finite population of 70,028 elderly patients with valid telephone numbers. The minimum sample required for this study was 398 participants. Trained interviewers conducted telephone calls between July 2021 and January 2022 using the validated modified oral health questionnaire. Self-rated oral health was assessed using a conventionally used global oral health question: “How would you describe your dental health?” with three response options: good, fair, and poor. Descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact test, and binary logistic regression were performed to analyze the data. Results A total of 836 telephone numbers were called. There were 402 (48.10%) elderly patients who agreed to and completed the telephone interview. Most of the study participants were women (61.4%) between 61–74 years of age (83.1%) with a mean age of 69.18 years. Bivariate analyses showed associations between poor self-rated oral health and lower subjective oral functions: chewing discomfort (p < 0.001) and speaking discomfort (p = 0.013). However, the multivariate regression model indicated a significant association between poor self-rated oral health and chewing discomfort (p < 0.001). Therefore, elderly patients with chewing discomfort were more likely to perceive poor oral health. Conclusions These findings indicate that difficulty chewing could be a potential factor influencing self-rated adverse oral health among older patients attending the university dental hospital. Furthermore, our study adds that the predictive power of a single-item self-measurement supports its value as a standard measure to predict oral health risk in tertiary care institutions, as well as primary care settings and community-based survey research. Therefore, healthcare providers should routinely evaluate self-rated oral health among elderly patients to detect early signs and symptoms of oral health problems, assess the success of dental treatments, and monitor general health and well-being.

Association between Chewing Difficulty and Dietary Ca, Vitamin D, and Mg Intake in Korean Older Adults: 8th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) (2020–2021)

“…Moreover, the OR for experiencing CD tended to be significantly higher in the group with lower SPOHS scores. These findings align with previous studies suggesting that self-perceived oral health might be influenced by CD [38,39]. It was confirmed that poor subjective oral health status had a more pronounced impact on chewing function, and the prevalence of CD was lower when dietary calcium was consumed.…”

Impact of Dental Disorders on Self-rated dental Health Status of the Elderly in Selected Rural Communities in Kenya

“…In this study, more than 6 in 10 (63.3%) respondents self-rated their dental health as poor. This was in stark contrast to findings in some higher income countries such as United States (28%) [53], Japan (40%) [56] and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (24%) [57] but comparable to Thailand (67%) [54]. This is likely because of better access to oral care resulting in better oral health outcomes among the elderly in HICs compared to middle income countries.…”

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 28, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.28.24308040 doi: medRxiv preprint Self-rated dental health closely mimic actual dental health status and is recommended for sociodental assessment particularly among the elderly in low-resource settings [54]. However, since dental health exists as a subset of oral health, which extends beyond dental outcomes to include the health of the entire oro-facial system [35], self-rated dental health is mostly studied alongside self-rated oral health with some surveys publishing it as self-rated oral health even if the variables studied only relate to teeth and gums [36].…”

“…However, since dental health exists as a subset of oral health, which extends beyond dental outcomes to include the health of the entire oro-facial system [35], self-rated dental health is mostly studied alongside self-rated oral health with some surveys publishing it as self-rated oral health even if the variables studied only relate to teeth and gums [36]. Previous studies have validated the use of this technique in various settings and study populations [54]. Lundbeck and others, for instance, conducted a study in 2020 among elderly New Zealanders to determine the clinical validity of self-rated oral health.…”