Purpose: The study aimed to examine the association of self-rated chewing function, the number of teeth and periodontal status with metabolic syndrome.
Methods: The participants were 11,119 adults aged 40-74 years who underwent specific health checkups, including an oral health examination, in 2018 in Japan. This study used the standard questions of the specific health checkups to obtain information on self-rated chewing function. A multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed with metabolic syndrome status as the dependent variable, and age, sex, lifestyle questions, self-rated chewing function, number of teeth, and periodontal status as the independent variables.
Results: Number of teeth and periodontal status were significantly associated with metabolic syndrome after adjusting for confounding variables. Self-rated chewing function was significantly associated with metabolic syndrome in the crude analysis, but not after adjustment for confounding variables. Both number of teeth and periodontal status were significantly associated with self-rated chewing function.
Conclusion: There was no significant direct association between self-rated chewing function and metabolic syndrome. Self-rated chewing function may be an indicator of poor oral condition that links to metabolic syndrome.
Keywords: chewing function; metabolic syndrome; oral health.