Socioeconomic Status, Health Behaviours And Oral Health In Adult Urban Population Of Krakow

Background. Human longevity has increased throughout all developed countries in the world, including Poland. In an aging population it is important to ensure adequate oral health for future generations as prevention and treatment methods adopted so far may soon appear insufficient.Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess whether social and behavioral factors, i.e. education, smoking, occupational activity, alcohol consumption, sports activity and perceived health influence tooth loss, functional dentition, oral hygiene, and periodontal health.Material and Methods. The study involved 1008 Krakow residents (478 men and 530 women), between the age from 50-75 years. Information on age, education, occupational activity, alcohol consumption, perceived health, smoking status, sports activities was collected by the interview using standard questionnaire. Oral examinations were carried out according to the WHO recommendations. Two definitions of poor functional dentition (FD) were used, i.e. having less than 20 teeth and having less than 4 pairs of contacting teeth. Pocket depths (PD) were measured using Hu-Friedy periodontal probe type PCPUNC15. Oral hygiene was assessed using Plaque Index (PI) by Silness & Loe.Results. There were 16% edentulous men and women. After adjustment for covariates, persons with low education had more than seven times higher prevalence of having poor FD in women and twice higher prevalence in men compared to persons with university education (OR = 7.05 95% CI: 2.50-19.82 and OR = 2.18 95% CI: 1.18-4.02 respectively). Smoking was strongly related to the prevalence of edentulism and to the prevalence of having no FD both in men and women. After adjustment for covariates, former male smokers and current female smokers had about twice higher prevalence of periodontal disease.Conclusions. Low education and tobacco smoking appeared to be the factors strongly and independently associated with poor oral hygiene and health. Relations between oral health and other socioeconomic and behavioral factors were weaker and they were attenuated after adjustment to age, education and smoking