A Study on the Relationship between the Number of Remaining Teeth and the Sociality in Self-supporting Elderly

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between the condition of oral cavity and the sociality in self-supporting elderly aged 65 years old and over in a local community. A total of 518 subjects were examined. As an index of cavity, a number of remaining teeth, and as indices of sociality, contact frequency with friends, social participation and social role were examined. Subjects were divided into four groups according to the number of remaining teeth ; Group I, no tooth, Group II, 1-9 teeth, Group III, 10-19 teeth, Group IV, 20 teeth and over. The results were as follows ; 1) The mean number of remaining teeth was 13.9(SD : 11.0) , and it was higher than that of the national average (9.7 teeth). About a half of subjects aged 65-69 years old had 20 teeth and over. And a number of remaining teeth was correlated with age. 2) From an analysis of relationships between the number of remaining teeth and sociality using multiple logistic regression model with co-variables of age, gender and subjective feeling on health, three items of the sociality, "keeping contact with friends", "having a social role" and "enjoying contact with other persons" were significantly associated. These results suggest that retention of teeth in self-supporting elderly can keep their sociality.