Number of Remaining Teeth and Obesity in Chilean Older Adults.

Objectives: To investigate whether the number of remaining teeth was associated with obesity among Chilean older people.

Background: Contradictory findings on the associations between cumulative tooth loss, chewing discomfort and the consumption of fruits and vegetables in older people have been reported; moreover, findings on the relationship between dentition and nutritional status are inconsistent. The latter has been studied in some Latin American countries, but no data have been reported for Chile.

Materials and methods: We undertook a secondary analysis of clinical and self-reported data from a national survey of adults-the Chilean National Health Survey 2016-17 or 2016-17 (NHS)-to examine associations between the number of remaining teeth (defined both as the presence of a functional dentition and as ordinal categories of the number of remaining teeth: ≥ 20, 10-19, 1-9 or 0 teeth) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m²) among non-institutionalised older adults aged ≥ 65 years. Associations between the number of remaining teeth and (a) chewing discomfort and (b) daily consumption of fruits and vegetables were also examined. Multivariate models for obesity and functional dentition or dentition status were adjusted for sex, age, education level, residency and denture use. Analyses used Stata, applying survey weighting to obtain population estimates.

Results: Data from n = 1363 non-institutionalised older adults aged ≥ 65 years, representing a population of 1,765,340 individuals was analysed. A minority of the sample had a functional dentition (22.5%), which was more common in men (28.7%) and among urban residents (24.8%). A consistent gradient in functional dentition was observed by educational level, with prevalence rates of 7.2%, 27.2% and 76.8% among individuals of low, medium and high education level, respectively. More than one in 10 individuals (12.4% of the sample) reported chewing discomfort, and this was more common among those who had (14.9%) than for those who did not have a functional dentition (6.5%). Individuals with a functional dentition consumed more fruits and vegetables daily than those with fewer than 20 teeth. Regarding the study outcome, 35.6% of participants were obese. Obesity was more common among those who did not have a functional dentition (37.3%) than for those who did (30.2%). In the multivariate model, the lack of a functional dentition (having fewer remaining teeth) was not associated with obesity (PR 1.06; 95% CI 0.86, 1.32). Similar findings were observed when examining associations by dentition status categories (10-19 teeth: PR 1.13; 95% CI 0.9, 1.41, 1-9 teeth: PR 1.07; 0.84, 1.35, edentulous: PR 0.88; 95% CI 0.68, 1.13. using ≥ 20 teeth as ref.).

Conclusion: The lack of a functional dentition (having fewer remaining teeth) was associated with lower daily fruit and vegetable consumption and chewing discomfort but not with obesity in this population.