This paper investigates whether eight specific life-events were relate
d to self reported chronic (persistent trouble over the last 12 months
) and acute (trouble in the last 14 days) oral symptoms in a sample of
3861 civil servants aged 35-44 years. The results of a logistic regre
ssion analysis taking age, social class and gender into account showed
that a range of life-events-marital or family problems other than div
orce, death of a relative, personal serious illness, serious illness o
f a close relative, major financial difficulty and mugging and robbery
-were significantly associated with either acute or chronic oral sympt
oms. Further analysis showed that marital or family problems other tha
n divorce was found to be the most important life event studied. The r
esults support the argument that marital dissatisfaction leads to poor
er physical and psychological health.