Table 2.
Oral health status by weight loss
| Variables | Total population (N = 542) | Stable or Weight gain ≥5%a (N = 443) | Weight loss ≥5% b (N = 99) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | (%) | n | (%) | n | (%) | p value | |
| Has < 20 natural teeth | 301 | (55.5) | 233 | (52.6) | 68 | (68.7) | < 0.01 |
| Denture wearing status | |||||||
| Full denture (mandibular+maxillary) | 71 | (13.1) | 55 | (12.4) | 16 | (16.2) | |
| Single full denture and/or partial denture | 238 | (43.9) | 190 | (42.9) | 48 | (48.5) | 0.21 |
| No denture | 233 | (43.0) | 198 | (44.7) | 35 | (35.4) | |
| Limited chewing capacity c | 152 | (28.0) | 119 | (26.9) | 33 | (33.3) | 0.22 |
| Swallowing difficulty (Occasionally/Fairly often/Very often) | 65 | (12.0) | 46 | (10.4) | 19 | (19.2) | 0.03 |
| Mouth dryness (Dry: no droplet within 30 s) | 346 | (63.8) | 280 | (63.2) | 66 | (66.7) | 0.56 |
| Self-evaluated oral health (Fair/Poor) | 151 | (27.9) | 121 | (27.3) | 30 | (30.3) | 0.54 |
a Stable weight with either less than 5% weight gain or less than 5% weight loss, or had gained weight 5% or more in the previous 3-years between 5-year and 8-year assessments
b Weight loss of 5% or more over 3-years between 5-year and 8-year assessments
c Chewing capacity were evaluated by asking “Are you currently able to chew?” for 11 food items. Subjects who answered "yes" to 10 - 11 food items were classified as "no problem", or otherwise classified as "limited"