Aim of the study. The aims of the study was to explore oral hygiene habits of inhabitants of Vilnius city over 45 years old, investigate connection between oral hygiene and teeth loss and determine dependence between social factors and oral health.This cross-sectional study was approved by Lithuanian Bioethics Committee and carried out by one investigator. Our study was performed in period from 2008 to 2012.
Material and methods. We have examined and interviewed 634 patients in the principle of free choice (randomized selection). Data statistical analysis was performed with Excel 2003 and SPSS 20 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). The differences with p value <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results. According to questionnaire only 36% of study participants brush their teeth twice a day and 26.7% don’t brush at all. Those who are brushing their teeth twice a day or more often than three times a day had 15.3±9.9 and 14.7±10.1 remaining teeth, at the same time those who didn‘t brush their teeth had 9.4±8.5 remaining teeth only. 69.7% of study particjpants their oral health rated as insufficient or bad and the rest 30.3% - as good. Those persons who rated their oral health as good had sta tis ti cally sig nif i cant (p<0.002) more remaining teeth (14.3±10.6) than the others (11.4±9.2). Persons with the high education level had more remaining teeth (17.4±9.3), than persons with elementary education (7.1±7.3).
Conclusions. The approach to the personal oral health of Vilnius city inhabitants over 45 years old is insufficient. Bad oral hygiene skills cause high rates of edentulism among Vilnius city inhabitants.
Keywords: oral hygiene, tooth loss, prosthetic treatment, aging.
