Elderly Americans experience less tooth loss than in previous decades, study says

The study was conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and assessed data representative of the U.S. population from the time periods 1999‒2004 and 2009‒2014 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The researchers reported that the number of older adults experiencing edentulism had significantly declined from 17 percent to 11 percent between 2009 and 2014, with complete tooth retention rates rising from 14 percent to 21 percent.

However, these improvements were mostly true for the nonpoor participants. Among the poorer participants, non-Hispanic black participants experienced greater rates of complete tooth loss than their Hispanic and non-Hispanic white counterparts did. Complete tooth loss among black participants declined overall between the two time periods.

“It’s good news that older Americans are keeping more of their teeth because past studies have found that tooth loss can reduce quality of life,” said Dr. Bruce Dye, a dental epidemiology officer at NIDCR and first author on the paper. Since oral health disparities still persist, Dye cautioned that efforts to promote oral health should be made and should address the specific needs of older adults in the affected groups. “Retention of natural teeth also means that dental care may need to evolve to meet the challenges that an older population presents,” he added.

The study, titled “Tooth loss among older adults according to poverty status in the United States from 1999 through 2004 and 2009 through 2014,” was published online in the January 2019 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association.

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