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Attitudes to the importance of retaining natural teeth in an adult Swedish population
Author(s) -
Nederfors T.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
gerodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1741-2358
pISSN - 0734-0664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-2358.1998.00061.x
Subject(s) - medicine , population , dentistry , census , natural (archaeology) , natural population growth , cross sectional study , demography , environmental health , geography , pathology , sociology , archaeology
Objectives . To evaluate the attitudes to retaining natural teeth in an adult Swedish population, and to correlate the attitude to retaining natural teeth with some presumed influencing background factors. Design : Cross‐sectional study using a newly developed questionnaire. Subjects : From the national census register of four municipalities in the southern part of the province of Halland, Sweden, with a total population of 126,878 adult (≥20 years) inhabitants, 4,200 persons were selected at random. The sample was randomised by age and sex, and 300 men and 300 women from the age groups 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 years were included. Intervention and main outcome measures : The questionnaire aimed to evaluate the number of remaining natural teeth, the dental care habits, the self‐estimated quality of natural teeth, and the attitude t o retaining natural teeth In the studied population, and also to evaluate the possible correlation between those factors, in particular, the attitude to retaining natural teeth versus the other factors. Results : It was found that the attitude to the importance of retaining natural teeth was strongly correlated with the number of remaining natural teeth, the dental care habits, and the self‐estimated quality of natural teeth. Also sex had an influence on this attitude but not age. Conclusions : The attitude to the importance of retaining natural teeth in an adult Swedish population is correlated with the number of remaining natural teeth, the dental care habits, the self‐estimated quality of natural teeth, and sex, but not with age.