Table 3.

Association of categorical variables with any root caries, with p values adjusted for study site

Variable		N	Percent with root caries	pb value
Gender	Female	265	38.5	0.001
	Male	172	58.1
Race	White/Caucasian	260	58.5	<0.001
	African-American	153	26.1
	Other	24	41.7
Ethnic origin	Hispanic	15	40.0	0.647
	Not Hispanic	422	46.5
Daily average mints/candy/gum consumption	0	108	46.3	0.260c
	1	62	51.6
	2	55	45.5
	≥3	102	39.2
High blood pressure	Yes	139	54.7	0.002
	No	298	42.3
Cancer chemo/radiotherapy	Yes	28	57.1	0.224
	No	409	45.5
Diabetes	Yes	59	54.2	0.287
	No	378	45.0
Depression	Yes	75	50.7	0.327
	No	362	45.3
Medicationsa	Yes	50	60.0	0.174
	No	387	44.4
Time since last dental visit	<1 year	336	53.0	0.016
	≥1 year	96	22.9
Time of most recent professional fluoride treatment	≤1 year ago	195	58.5	0.015c
	>1 year ago	108	35.2
	Never	56	26.8
Daily use of OTC fluoride toothpaste	Yes	375	47.5	0.248
	No	39	41.0
Daily use of OTC fluoride mouthwash	Yes	156	43.6	0.715
	No	255	47.8
Daily frequency of toothbrushing	≤Once/day	115	40.0	0.139
	>Once/day	319	48.6
Daily frequency of flossing	<Once/day	204	40.2	0.056
	≥Once/day	230	51.7
Self-described oral health	Poor/very poor	74	39.2	0.186c
	Fair	163	50.9
	Good	148	50.0
	Very good/excellent	48	31.3
Dry mouth symptoms	Yes	316	49.7	0.025
	No	117	37.6

OTC over-the-counter

^aUse of antibiotics, tranquilizers, and/or antihistamines

^bBased on Mantel–Haenszel General Association Statistic (which is approximately equivalent to the Pearson chi-square statistic), unless otherwise noted

^cMantel–Haenszel Correlation Statistic with standardized midrank scores; the Mantel–Haenszel General Association p value for self-described oral health (as a nominal variable) was 0.01