The Public Dental Health Service Competence Center of Northern Norway, Tromsö, Norway.
Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsö, Norway.
BMC Oral Health. 2021 May 13;21(1):257. doi: 10.1186/s12903-021-01626-9.
Socioeconomic status and oral health care habits may change throughout adult life. This calls for age-stratified analyses of oral health in the adult population to uncover differences that could be of importance for organizing adequate oral health care services. The aim of the present study was to describe self-reported oral health in different age groups in a general adult population in Norway, and to explore associations between self-reported oral health and age groups, sociodemographic factors, use of dental services, number of teeth and dental caries.
We used data from a cross-sectional study of almost 2000 Norwegian adults, 20-79 years old. The study included both a structured questionnaire and a clinical examination to assess sociodemographic variables, use of dental services, self-reported oral and general health as well as dental caries and number of teeth. For analysis, the participants were divided into three age groups: young adults (20-29 years), middle-aged adults (30-59 years), and senior adults (60 years and older). Differences among groups were analyzed by cross-tabulation, and logistic regression analyses were used to assess associations between variables.
Forty-eight percent of the participants rated their oral health as good. Almost half of the participants had at least one carious tooth, with the highest caries prevalence among the young adults. To be caries free was strongly associated with reporting good oral health among the young and middle-aged adults. One third of the senior adults had fewer than 20 teeth, which was associated with reporting moderate or poor oral health. Less than half of the young adults reported regular use of dental services, and 40% of them had postponed dental visits for financial reasons during the past 2 years. Regardless of age group, having to postpone dental visits for financial reasons or having poor-to-moderate general health were associated with high odds for reporting moderate or poor oral health.
That there were important age-group differences in self-reported and clinical measures of oral health and in the use of dental health services demonstrates the importance of age-stratified analyses in oral health research. Many adults, especially among the young, faced financial barriers for receiving dental health services, which was associated with poorer self-reported oral health. This argues for a need to revisit the financing of oral health care for adults in Norway.
社会经济地位和口腔保健习惯可能会在成年期发生变化。这就需要对成年人群进行按年龄分层的口腔健康分析，以发现可能对组织充足的口腔保健服务很重要的差异。本研究的目的是描述挪威一般成年人群中不同年龄组的自我报告的口腔健康状况，并探讨自我报告的口腔健康与年龄组、社会人口因素、牙科服务的使用、牙齿数量和龋齿之间的关系。
我们使用了一项针对近 2000 名 20-79 岁挪威成年人的横断面研究的数据。该研究包括一份结构化问卷和一次临床检查，以评估社会人口变量、牙科服务的使用、自我报告的口腔和一般健康以及龋齿和牙齿数量。为了分析，参与者被分为三组：年轻成年人（20-29 岁）、中年成年人（30-59 岁）和老年成年人（60 岁及以上）。通过交叉表分析组间差异，并使用逻辑回归分析评估变量之间的关系。
48%的参与者认为他们的口腔健康状况良好。近一半的参与者至少有一颗龋齿，年轻成年人的龋齿患病率最高。在年轻和中年成年人中，无龋齿与报告良好的口腔健康密切相关。三分之一的老年成年人牙齿少于 20 颗，这与报告中等或较差的口腔健康有关。不到一半的年轻成年人报告定期使用牙科服务，其中 40%的人在过去 2 年内因经济原因推迟了牙科就诊。无论年龄组如何，因经济原因而推迟看牙或口腔健康状况不佳或中等，与报告中等或较差的口腔健康的高几率相关。
自我报告的口腔健康和临床测量以及牙科保健服务的使用存在重要的年龄组差异，这表明在口腔健康研究中按年龄分层分析的重要性。许多成年人，尤其是年轻人，面临接受牙科保健服务的经济障碍，这与自我报告的口腔健康较差有关。这表明需要重新考虑挪威成年人的口腔保健融资问题。
