Correlation between perceived experience of caries disease and recorded caries activity among adult patients at a Swedish Public Dental Clinic: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective. To compare patients' perceived experiences of caries activity with recorded longitudinal caries prevalence, consequences of caries and length of recall intervals. Materials and methods. A questionnaire was mailed to 134 caries active (CA) and 40 caries inactive (CI) adult patients at a Swedish Public Dental Clinic. The overall response rate was 69%. The questionnaire included items regarding perceived caries activity, general health, dietary and oral hygiene habits, level of education and socioeconomic status. Questionnaire responses were studied for their association to clinical data extracted from patient dental records. Results. There was a correlation between patient-perceived and documented caries activity for all respondents (rho = 0.65; p < 0.001). CA patients had significantly more perceived caries activity (p < 0.001), decayed teeth (p < 0.001), root fillings (p = 0.001) and extractions (p < 0.001) than CI patients. The mean recall interval was 1.5 years for CA and 2.1 years for CI (p < 0.001). In multiple logistic regression analysis, CA patients were at increased risk for xerostomia (OR = 22.66, p = 0.003), sleep disturbances (OR = 4.36, p = 0.04) and more frequent use of daily extra fluoride (OR = 3.58, p = 0.03). Conclusions. Patient-perceived experience of caries correlated well with recorded caries activity in this group of middle-aged Swedish adults. Individuals with active caries were aware of their disease and made more frequent attempts to reduce caries activity by use of daily extra fluoride. Individual risk-based recall intervals did not seem to eliminate consequences of disease activity such as root fillings and extractions during the follow-up period.

Key Words::

• caries inactivity
• extractions
• recall interval
• sleep disturbances
• xerostomia

Acknowledgement

The authors want to honour the late Professor Folke Lagerlöf who took part in the planning of this study as well as in the preliminary analysis of the results and outlining of this manuscript. We also thank Professor Kent Nilsson at the Centre for Clinical Research for statistical assistance and Eva Nohlert for very helpful handling of questionnaires. This study was supported by grants from the Swedish Dental Society, Centre for Clinical Research, Uppsala University, Landstinget Västmanland and Folktandvården Västmanland.

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