Objectives: In recent years, the relationship between oral health status and various diseases has been increasingly reported worldwide, leading to a growing understanding of the importance of oral health. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between oral health status, determined after a dental health check-up, and chewing condition, determined via a questionnaire for specific health check-ups with the newly added chewing condition item-When you chew your food, which most accurately describes your chewing-.
Methods: From 20,834 Japanese workers who underwent dental health check-ups and specific health check-ups from April 2018 to March 2019, 4,011 male workers (51.2 ± 6.1 years, range 40-64 years) were extracted for this study. Participants were divided into two groups, the good chewing condition group (GCG) and poor chewing condition group (PCG), according to their responses to a questionnaire regarding chewing conditions. We collected and compared data on subjects' age, smoking status, number of teeth present, number of filled teeth, number of decayed teeth, number of missing teeth with prosthetic treatment, periodontal pockets, gingival bleeding, oral hygiene status, and Eichner's classification. Additionally, to clarify the risk associated with chewing condition, we performed stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis with good chewing condition/poor chewing condition as the dependent variable, and age, smoking status, number of teeth present, number of filled teeth, number of missing teeth with prosthetic treatment, periodontal pockets, oral hygiene status, and Eichner's classification as the independent variables.
Results: The result of stepwise multiple logistic regression analyses, the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of the factors that remained in the final model were as follows; the number of decayed teeth (OR = 1.18 [95% CI: 1.12-1.24]); periodontal pockets of 3 mm or less vs. 6 mm or more (OR = 1.63 [95% CI: 1.12-2.37]); Eichner's classification A1 vs. A2 (OR = 1.40 [95% CI: 1.08-1.82]), A3 (OR = 1.66 [95% CI: 1.09-2.52]), B1 (OR = 3.38 [95% CI: 2.04-5.61]), B2 (OR = 5.26 [95% CI: 2.46-11.2]), B3 (OR = 4.28 [95% CI: 1.20-15.2]), B4 (OR = 7.59 [95% CI: 1.06-54.5]).
Conclusions: The results of this study suggest a significant association between the newly added "chewing condition" item in the questionnaire for specific health check-ups and oral status; the number of decayed teeth, periodontal pockets, Eichner's classification.