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TOOTH LOSS AND RISK FACTORS AMONG ELDERLY VIETNAMESE

Time in education

Tobacco smoking

Drink alcohol

Binary logistic regression . Ref : reference , * p < 0.01 .

≤1 time / day 1.4 0.8-2.7 0.15

4 . Discussion

The main finding of this study was that there was a high prevalence of tooth loss among the elderly Vietnamese aged 65-74 years old . Tooth loss might impact the general health , cause the loss of mastication and reduce the quality of life . 2 , 3 Over ninety percent of the elderly Vietnamese presented tooth loss condition . This result was in line with the study conducted in the South Vietnam where 96 % of the older population had missing teeth . 11 We found that posterior teeth lost more often than anterior teeth . This finding is expected because of the morphology of the occlusal surfaces of posterior teeth , which easily accumulates plaque and food debris . Furthermore , it was often difficult for the elders to perform oral hygiene on the last position of the dental arch , and this could increase the risk of caries and periodontitis , leading to tooth loss . We observed that the prevalence of losing canine and posterior teeth of the maxilla were statistically higher than that of the mandible . The maxilla is known as the spongy bone type , and the mandibular is of the compact bone type ; consequently , inflammation of the supporting bone in the maxilla could lead to a more rapid resorption of bone and earlier tooth loss than in the mandibular . 12 However , our finding was in contrast with the study of Nguyen et al ., 11 which indicated that loss of lower posterior teeth was more frequent than that of upper posterior teeth . The elderly Vietnamese had the average of 7.6 missing teeth . At the same age group , this observed number is higher compared to the study conducted in Australia ( 5.3 ), 13 Turkey ( 7.0 ), 14 but lower than reported in China ( 11.2 ), 8 and Brazil ( 26.1 ). 15 Regarding the influence of sociodemographic factors on tooth loss , participants aged 70 – 74 had lost significantly more teeth on average than those aged 65 – 69 . This finding was in agreement with previous studies , which indicated that the number

14 , 15

of lost teeth tends to increase with age . The maintaining more than 20 teeth is a core mission of Oral health care programme for the older population . 16 Approximately 60 % of the elderly Vietnamese still had enough 20 teeth or more . This prevalence was far lower compared with the finding of neighbour country , 17 but in line with study conducted in Iran , 18 and higher than reported in Turkey . 14 Rural residents had significantly higher tooth loss than the urban residents . This reflected the different oral health services between regions in Vietnam where the density of dentists in a rural area was much lower than in the urban area ( 1 / 200,000 for rural vs . 1 / 13,500 inhabitants for urban ). 11 Moreover , the elderly Vietnamese living in a rural area often prefer to remove a painful tooth rather than having it restored because they think that tooth loss is a natural part of the aging process . The frequency of dental visits reflect the attitudes of the patient or the provider , accessibility to dental care and prevailing societal attitudes regarding oral health care . We found that 74.6 % of elderly Vietnamese ignored an oral health checkup during the previous year , they only visited dentists with the unique aim to remove teeth due to an acute toothache or an impaired ability to chew ( i . e . mobility teeth ). Moreover , material and transportation hardship , especially in rural areas , are also factors that limit access to oral health care services . 19 , 20 Therefore , the number of tooth loss in this group was much higher than those who annually visited the dentist for oral care . Our finding was close to the third China National Oral Health Survey . This survey reported that more than