Dental research has progressed from describing the burden of oral disease using traditional epidemiologic measures of incidence and prevalence, to measuring how oral disease, oral signs, and oral symptoms affect the daily activities and the overall quality of life of the individual. However, longitudinal evaluation of these associations remains rare.
Objectives: To (i). describe the 2-year incidence and patterns of oral disadvantage; (ii). identify dimensions of oral health measures that are significant antecedents of oral disadvantage; and (iii). determine which oral health dimensions are the most strongly predictive of oral disadvantage.
Methods: The Florida Dental Care Study was a longitudinal study of oral health in diverse groups of persons who at baseline had at least one tooth and were 45 years or older. Incidence rates, odds ratios, and 95% confidence intervals were used to describe oral disadvantage and its relation to other measures of oral health.
Results: Nearly one-half of the participants experienced oral disadvantage at least once during 24 months of follow-up. The strongest antecedents associated with oral disadvantage were toothache pain and chewing difficulty.
Conclusions: The incidence of oral disadvantage is substantial and consistent with the notion that oral health has a substantial impact on quality of life. Measures of oral pain and oral functional limitation were more strongly predictive of oral disadvantage than disease and tissue damage antecedents.