Oral Health and Oral Health Behavior as Risk Factors for Depression

1) This study investigated the association between depression and oral health and the factors influencing depression in adults. Data on 13,199 people (male 5,793, female 7,406; age ≥19 years old) were extracted from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VIII (KNHANES VIII) (2016~2018) and analyzed using frequency, percentage, an x2 test, a T-test, and logistic regression analysis. Depression was defined as either a medical diagnosis or a score ≥10 on Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The probability of depression was found to be statistically different for general characteristics, such as gender, age, school grade, income, and drinking. The logistic regression analysis showed that the independent variables, general health awareness (OR=9.094, 95% CI 7.139∼11.585) and oral health awareness (OR=1.936, 95% CI 1.465∼2.560), were associated with depression, and speaking discomfort, chewing discomfort, oral pain (within 1 year), and prosthesis were found to increase depression probability. The depression probability was also was found to significantly increase by 1.81 times if brushing frequency was less that once a day, if people used dental floss (OR=1.42), and had to have an oral examination (OR=1.31). These results indicated that oral health and oral health behaviors are associated with the depression, with the influencing factors having oral health and behavior-related characteristics. Therefore, proper oral health and oral health risk factor behavior management programs should be developed to assist in reducing depression.