Objective and perceived oral health status of elderly nursing home residents: a local survey in southern France

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of the sample of elderly nursing home residents (n=114)

	[min; max]	Mean (SD)	Median [Q1; Q3]
Men (n=26)
Age	[73.50; 93.41]	83.65 (5.48)	84.11 [80.42; 87.28]
Length of stay in institution	[0.06; 12.33]	4.28 (3.27)	3.35 [2.13; 5.08]
Women (n=88)
Age	[62.62; 104.17]	88.16 (7.88)	89.19 [82.78; 93.70]
Length of stay in institution	[0.02; 12.70]	4.53 (2.74)	4.31 [2.40; 7.25]
Total (n=114)
Age	[62.62; 104.17]	87.13 (7.62)	88.09 [81.59; 93.11]
Length of stay in institution	[0.02; 12.70]	4.47 (2.85)	4.05 [2.28; 7.05]

Table 2 Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT) for dental screening

Category	0= healthy	1= changes	2= unhealthy
Lips	Smooth, pink, moist	Dry, chapped or red at corners	Swelling or lump, white/red/ulcerated patch; bleeding/ulcerated at corners
Tongue	Normal, moist roughness, pink	Patchy, fissured, red, coated	Patch that is red and/or white, ulcerated, swollen
Gums and tissues	Pink, moist, smooth, no bleeding	Dry, shiny, rough, red, swollen, one ulcer/sore spot under dentures	Swollen, bleeding, ulcers, white/red patches, generalized redness under dentures
Saliva	Moist tissues, watery and free flowing saliva	Dry, sticky tissues, little saliva present, resident thinks they have a dry mouth	Tissues parched and red, very little/no saliva present, saliva is thick, resident thinks they have a dry mouth
Natural teeth	No decayed or broken teeth/roots	1–3 decayed or broken teeth/roots or very worn down teeth	4+ decayed or broken teeth/roots, or very worn down teeth, or less than 4 teeth
Dentures	No broken areas or teeth, dentures regularly worn, and named	1 broken area/tooth or dentures only worn for 1–2 hrs daily, or dentures not named, or loose	More than 1 broken area/tooth, denture missing or not worn, loose and needs denture adhesive, or not named
Oral cleanliness	Clean and no food particles or tartar in mouth or dentures	Food particles/tartar/plaque in 1–2 areas of the mouth or on small area of dentures or halitosis (bad breath)	Food particles/tartar/plaque in most areas of the mouth or on most of dentures or severe halitosis (bad breath)
Dental pain	No behavioral, verbal, or physical signs of dental pain	Verbal and/or behavioral signs of pain such as pulling at face, chewing lips, not eating, aggression	Signs of physical pain (swelling of cheek or gum, broken teeth, ulcers), as well as verbal and/or behavioral signs (pulling at face, not eating, aggression)
				Total score: /16

Table 3 GOHAI items and frequency distribution of the responses (n=94)

In the past month…	Never	Seldom	Sometimes	Often	Always
1 - How often did you limit the kinds or amounts of food you eat because of problems with your teeth or denture?	34 (36.17)	20 (21.28)	12 (12.77)	25 (26.60)	3 (3.19)
2 - How often did you have trouble biting or chewing any kinds of food, such as firm meat or apples?	18 (19.15)	21 (22.34)	18 (19.15)	33 (35.11)	4 (4.26)
3 - How often were you able to swallow comfortably?	2 (2.13)	3 (3.19)	5 (5.32)	13 (13.83)	71 (75.53)
4 - How often have your teeth or dentures prevented you from speaking the way you wanted?	61 (64.89)	19 (20.21)	9 (9.57)	4 (4.26)	1 (1.06)
5 - How often were you able to eat anything without feeling discomfort?	0	23 (24.47)	8 (8.51)	30 (31.91)	33 (35.11)
6 - How often did you limit contacts with people because of the condition of your teeth or denture?	72 (76.60)	12 (12.27)	8 (8.51)	2 (2.13)	0
7 - How often were you pleased or happy with the looks of your teeth, gums or dentures?	7 (7.45)	15 (15.96)	5 (5.32)	17 (18.09)	50 (53.19)
8 - How often did you use medication to relieve pain or discomfort from around your mouth?	27 (28.72)	18 (19.15)	30 (31.91)	19 (20.21)	0
9 - How often were you worried or concerned about the problems with your teeth, gums or dentures?	18 (19.15)	31 (32.98)	21 (22.34)	24 (25.53)	0
10 - How often did you feel nervous or self-conscious because of problems with your teeth, gums or dentures?	33 (35.11)	26 (27.66)	20 (21.28)	14 (14.89)	1 (1.06)
11 - How often did you feel uncomfortable eating in front of people because of problems with your teeth or dentures?	50 (53.19)	29 (30.85)	13 (13.83)	1 (1.06)	1 (1.06)
12 - How often were your teeth or gums sensitive to hot, cold or sweets?	20 (21.28)	14 (14.89)	41 (43.62)	18 (19.15)	1 (1.06)

Abbreviation: GOHAI, General Oral Health Assessment Index.

Table 4 Distribution of residents according to objective and perceived state of oral health

	n	%
Oral profile (n=114)
Teeth/denture	21	18.42
Teeth/no denture	48	42.11
No teeth/denture	28	24.56
No teeth/no denture	17	14.91
OHAT (n=114)
Healthy	21	18.42
Changes	61	53.51
Unhealthy	32	28.07
GOHAI (n=94)
Poor QoL	50	53.19
Medium QoL	36	38.30
Good QoL	8	8.51

Abbreviations: GOHAI, General Oral Health Assessment Index; OHAT, Oral Health Assessment Tool.

Table 5 Overall and itemized OHAT score (n=114)

Variable	[min; max]	Mean (SD)
Lips	[0; 2]	0.57 (0.68)
Tongue	[0; 2]	0.71 (0.56)
Gums and tissues	[0; 2]	0.75 (0.74)
Saliva	[0; 2]	0.74 (0.57)
Natural teeth	[0; 2]	1.59 (0.68)
Dentures	[0; 2]	0.46 (0.82)
Oral cleanliness	[0; 2]	1.07 (0.58)
Dental pain	[0; 2]	0.45 (0.61)
OHAT score	[1; 12]	6.33 (3.04)

Abbreviation: OHAT, Oral Health Assessment Tool.

Table 6 Global and field GOHAI scores (n=94)

Variable	[minth; maxth]	[minobs; maxobs]	Mean (SD)	Median [Q1; Q3]
Functional field	[4; 20]	[9; 20]	15.79 (3.35)	16.00 [13.00; 19.00]
Psychosocial field	[5; 25]	[9; 25]	20.18 (4.15)	21.00 [17.00; 24.00]
Pain or discomfort field	[3; 15]	[6; 15]	10.70 (2.70)	11.00 [8,00; 13.00]
GOHAI score	[12; 60]	[29; 59]	46.67 (8.90)	49.00 [38.00; 54.00]

Notes: [min_th; max_th]: theoretical. [min_obs; max_obs]: observed.

Abbreviation: GOHAI, General Oral Health Assessment Index.

Figure 1 (A) Objective oral health (OHAT) according to oral profile (n=114). (B) Perceived oral health (GOHAI) according to oral profile (n=94).

Abbreviations: OHAI, General Oral Health Assessment Index; OHAT, Oral Health Assessment Tool; PFDR, p-value associated with exact Wilcoxon rank sum test after FDR-correction; PKW, p-value associated with Kruskal-Wallis test.

Figure 2 Boxplot representations of the three GOHAI subscores by oral profile.

Note: Only significant pairwise comparisons after FDR-correction are added on the graphs.
Abbreviations: FDR, false discovery rate; GOHAI, General Oral Health Assessment Index; OHAT, Oral Health Assessment Tool.

Figure 3 Perceived oral health (OHAT) according to oral profile (n=94).

Abbreviations: GOHAI, General Oral Health Assessment Index; OHAT, Oral Health Assessment Tool.