Tooth mortality in plantation workers and residents in Sri Lanka.

The tooth mortality of 787 Sri Lanka tea plantation workers and residents aged between 15 and 85 yr was studied in terms of missing teeth as well as teeth requiring extraction for various reasons. The mean number of missing teeth per person was 6.7 +/- 9.0. A pattern relating actual tooth loss and tooth loss adjusted to take account of teeth needing extraction was observed. Such adjustment increased the mean number of missing teeth per person by about two teeth in most age groups. The age specific pattern of tooth loss was calculated. There was an abrupt increase in tooth mortality at the ages 45-54. The age specific tooth mortality for the Sri Lankan group was consistently less than for people in several Western countries. These trends were also apparent in the mortality pattern of individual tooth types. Although there was a tendency for more women to be edentulous, a significantly higher proportion of women than men had a full complement of teeth.