Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 10;13(5):e0196594.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196594. eCollection 2018.

Number of remaining teeth and its association with socioeconomic status in South Korean adults: Data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2012-2013

Yang Hyun Kim  1 , Kyungdo Han  2 , David Vu  3 , Kyung-Hwan Cho  1 , Sang Hwa Lee  4
Affiliations

Number of remaining teeth and its association with socioeconomic status in South Korean adults: Data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2012-2013

Yang Hyun Kim et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with systemic disease and influences oral and general health. Several studies have found inequalities associated with oral health and SES. We examined the relationship between tooth loss and SES in Korean adults using data from the 2012-2013 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: A total of 7,005 participants were included in this study. Subjects were divided into two groups depending on their total number of natural teeth: <20 and ≥20. Next, participants were divided into quartiles depending on household income and educational level. Multivariate logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (OR) for remaining teeth according to income and education levels.

Results: As income and education levels increased, subjects were more likely to have ≥20 remaining teeth (p-value and p-value for trend <0.001), brush their teeth more than three times per day, use extra oral products, and have regular oral-health checkups (all p<0.001). The odds of having ≥20 remaining teeth increased with increases in income and education, after adjusting for all covariates (OR = 1.493 for income Q3, OR = 1.571 for income Q4; OR = 1.763 for 10-12 years education, OR = 2.189 for ≥13years education).

Conclusion: Subjects with higher SES had more remaining teeth than subjects with lower SES. Preserving remaining teeth should be encouraged in subjects with low SES by promoting good oral-health behavior and encouraging more oral-health checkups.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: DV is employed by a private dental clinic, Wing Dental Center, Alberta, Canada. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Remaining-teeth group proportions of income and education quartiles.
Both p<0.001. Both p for trend <0.001.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Multivariate adjusted odds ratios for having ≥20 remaining teeth according to each of the four income and education levels.
Both p for trend <0.001. This model adjusted for age, sex, BMI, current smoking, alcohol drinking, regularexercises, frequency of tooth brushing, periodontitis, occupation, metabolic syndrome, education, and income.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Tada A, Matsukubo T. Relationship between oral health behaviors and general health behaviors in a Japanese adult population. Journal of public health dentistry. 2003;63(4):250–254. - PubMed
    1. Kim YH, Kim DH, Lim KS, Ko BJ, Han BD, Nam GE, et al. Oral health behaviors and metabolic syndrome: the 2008–2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Clinical oral investigations. 2014;18(5):1517–1524. doi: 10.1007/s00784-013-1112-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kobayashi Y, Niu K, Guan L, Momma H, Guo H, Cui Y, et al. Oral health behavior and metabolic syndrome and its components in adults. Journal of dental research. 2012;91(5):479–484. doi: 10.1177/0022034512440707 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shen T, Lv J, Wang L, Wang W, Zhang D. Association between tooth loss and dementia among older people: a meta-analysis. International journal of geriatric psychiatry. 2016;31(8):953–955. doi: 10.1002/gps.4396 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nascimento GG, Leite FR, Conceicao DA, Ferrua CP, Singh A, Demarco FF. Is there a relationship between obesity and tooth loss and edentulism? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity reviews: an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. 2016;17(7):587–598. doi: 10.1111/obr.12418 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types