Dental status of women in a 24-year longitudinal and cross-sectional study. Results from a population study of women in Goteborg

The aim of the study was to describe dental health status among middle-aged and elderly women over a 24-year period. Because of the design of the stud y it was possible to make both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons . The study started in 1968-69 with a combined medical and dental examinati on of women aged between 38 and 60 years. New dental examinations of these same women were performed in 1980-81 and again in 1992-93, and included nw cohorts of 38-year-old women on both occasions. In the cross-sectional pers pective, it was shown that the number of edentate individuals decreased sig nificantly during the 24-year period. Among dentate women, the number of re maining teeth and restored teeth increased significantly cross-sectionally. However. the youngest age group, women of 38 years, showed a lower number of restored teeth in the latest study (in 1992-93). There was also a lower number of crowns, root-fillings, and pontics in the latest study for the yo ungest age group. The two older age groups studied cross-sectionally showed similar numbers in all studies. In the longitudinal study, there was a dec rease with time in incidence of edentulism. Among the dentate women in the longitudinal study the number of restored teeth related to those remaining was high (range 76-90%) and did not change much between the studies in the different age groups. There was a dear tendency during the 24-year period i n all age groups for more teeth to be restored with crows rather than diffe rent fillings. In conclusion, this population study, with a follow-up of 24 years, shows that dental status improved in that fewer individuals lost al l their teeth and younger age groups have more remaining teeth and fewer re storations than previously.