PREDICTORS OF TOOTH LOSS OVER 10 YEARS IN ADULT AND ELDERLY CHINESE

This study describes the incidence of tooth loss over a 10-year period in a population of rural Chinese, initially aged between 20 and 80 ye ars. Among the 587 persons who participated in a baseline examination in 1984, 440 persons were available for a follow-up study in 1994. A t otal of 31 persons, mainly aged 50+ years at baseline, had become comp letely edentulous. Between 45% and 96% of the persons lost at least on e tooth, and the average number of teeth lost ranged between 1.0 and 7 .2. The distribution of the number of teeth lost was skew indicating t hat a minor group of subjects had a substantially higher risk of tooth loss than the majority. Logistic regression analysis identified six s ignificant predictors of tooth loss among those who remained dentate: age, a high number of teeth with dentinal caries lesions, a high numbe r of teeth with caries lesions of any type, presence of teeth with att achment loss greater than or equal to 7 mm, presence of mobile teeth, and a low percentage of sites with subgingival calculus deposits. At t he subject level, caries variables and periodontal disease variables s eemed equally important predictors of the incidence of tooth loss over 10 years, but at the tooth level caries was a predominant cause of to oth loss in all age groups.