抄録
Periodic maintenance management is assessed to work favorably on the oral health related index, such as tooth loss. However, the oral condition does not only have an influence on dietary habits, but also plays an important role on the ability to speak and appearance. Therefore, the assessment of QOL (Quality Of Life) should focus specifically on the maintenance care of adults. Within this context then, a survey on the association of oral condition in maintenance care with various QOL measures was conducted on patients over 40 years old at 28 dental offices across the country among “The Japan Health Care Dental Association” members from August 20 through September 20, 2006. 3,238 patients were selected for analysis from 4,317 patients who were asked for their cooperation (effective ratio of respondents: 75%) The baseline data indicates: ①The more remaining teeth there are and the more corresponding contacts are retained, the higher the physical QOL is, ②Mental QOL has a weak association with oral condition, ③Oral health related QOL shows a strong association with oral health related index, including number of remaining teeth, DMFT, Eichner’s classification, PD and periodic medical examination, ④Oral health related QOL shows a strong association with dejection, and ⑤Annual number of maintenance is associated with oral health QOL, but not with the entire body QOL. The follow-up study will continue on those patients to examine how much effect maintenance care has on the improvement or sustenance of QOL index.
