TOOTH LOSS AND RISK FACTORS AMONG ELDERLY VIETNAMESE
three-fourths of the Chinese aged 65 – 74 years old had missing teeth more often than those who regularly visited a dentist. 8 The risk factors for tooth loss have been studied all over the world. However, as far as we know, no data have been reported on the risk factors of tooth loss in Vietnam. Lack of knowledge among elderly Vietnamese regarding oral health might be influenced by the level of education. 21 Forty percent of the elderly Vietnamese in the current study who were in education ≤5 years had lost on average 10.2 teeth. Their education might have been interrupted due to the Vietnam War( 1945 – 1975). The subjects believe that the prolonging of a tooth in their mouth would have an adverse impact on the life of their descendants. Also, the elders with less time in education were significantly associated with the odds of losing > 6 teeth( OR = 2.2), it might be due to the lack of awareness about oral health behaviours for maintaining teeth. In the current study, we found that smokers( 23.4 %) had significantly higher tooth loss( 9.3 ± 7.6) than non-smokers( 7.2 ± 6.8). It could be due to the wellknown fact that tobacco smoking can increase the risk for periodontitis. Substances in tobacco might facilitate the accumulation of bacteria and lead to the destruction of tooth-supporting tissue. 22 Our study indicated that the odds ratio for smokers losing > 6 teeth was 2.8 in comparison to nonsmokers. These results are similar to those of studies in Japan and China. 23, 8 Reports about the relationship between alcohol consumption and tooth loss have been focused on dose-related effects. Some studies have shown that drinking causes periodontitis, with the latter considered a risk factor for tooth loss. 7, 24 However, alcohol consumption was not considered as indicator for the losing > 6 teeth in the current study. The similar findings were also reported by Yoshioka et al., 23 and Eustaquio-Raga et al. 25 The shortcomings of our study were that the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption were not accurately measured, and the reason for tooth loss( due to dental caries or periodontal disease) could not be exactly determined. A further study is required to investigate the impact of tooth loss on the function of the stomatognathic system in the elderly persons.
5. Conclusions
The obtained data allowed us to conclude that there were high prevalence and the number of tooth loss among elderly Vietnamese. Smoking behaviour and time in education were significantly related to maintaining teeth of the elderly community population. The data serves the setting up of oral health intervention programme for the older Vietnamese.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by an Estonian Science Foundation grant( No. 9255), IUT20 – 46 grant from the Estonian Research Council and the DoRa Doctoral Studies and Internationalisation Programme. The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this study.
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