Oral health in the adult population of Skåne, Sweden: a clinical study

Abstract

Objective. The aim of this study was to describe the oral health in the adult population of Skåne by clinical factors with special reference to age, gender, ethnicity and education. Materials and methods. Clinical examinations were performed on 451 randomly selected individuals, 20–89 years old, living in Skåne, Sweden. The clinical examination included a radiographic examination and a questionnaire. Clinical variables were put into cross-tabulations along with age, gender, educational level and ethnicity. Results. For all of the described clinical variables, except caries, the frequency increased with age. There were no differences in the clinical variables due to gender. The frequencies of missing teeth, caries, periodontal conditions and DMFT were higher among those with a lower educational level. More missing teeth, worse periodontal conditions, more apical destructions and less dental fillings were found in individuals who were not born in Sweden. Conclusions. The oral health in the adult population of Skåne was overall good, with low frequencies of oral disease and a large number of remaining teeth up to a high age. The patients' oral health status, as determined by a dentist's clinical examination, differed due to age, educational level and ethnicity, but not due to gender.

Key Words::

• dentistry
• epidemiology
• evaluated oral health
• socioeconomic factors

Acknowledgments

This study was performed in collaboration with the Regional Board of Dental Public Health in Skåne, Sweden. The authors would like to thank Per-Erik Isberg, Department of Statistics, Lund University, Sweden, for advice about statistical methods and performance of the statistical analyses.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.