Number of remaining teeth and oral health behaviours according to dentition status
| Variables† | Dentate* | Edentulous* | Total | |
| NRT: ≥20 | NRT: 1–19 | NRT: 0 | ||
| (n=293) | (n=165) | (n=73) | (n=549) | |
| Group of NRT (n=531)* | 26.7±3.7 (27.0) | 10.8±5.5 (12.0) | – | 18.1±10.9 (21.0) |
| 0 | 73 (13.7) | |||
| 1–19 | 165 (31.1) | |||
| ≥20 | 293 (55.2) | |||
| Oral hygiene | ||||
| Times of daily brushing teeth | 1.8±0.9 | |||
| Frequent (≥2 times) | 204 (69.5) | 116 (70.3) | 44 (60.3) | 372 (67.8) |
| Infrequent (<2 times) | 89 (30.4) | 49 (29.7) | 29 (39.7) | 177 (32.2) |
| Brushing teeth after meal | ||||
| Often | 62 (21.2) | 37 (22.4) | 22 (30.1) | 124 (22.6) |
| Seldom | 231 (78.8) | 128 (77.6) | 51 (69.9) | 425 (77.4) |
| Using dental floss‡ | ||||
| Often (≥once a day) | 67 (22.9) | 17 (10.3) | 7 (9.6) | 91 (16.6) |
| Seldom (<once a day) | 226 (77.1) | 148 (89.7) | 66 (90.4) | 458 (83.4) |
| Visiting dentist per 6 months‡ | ||||
| Regular | 73 (24.9) | 38 (23.0) | 7 (9.6) | 121 (22.0) |
| Irregular | 220 (75.1) | 127 (77.0) | 66 (90.4) | 428 (78.0) |
| Water intake per day | ||||
| Sufficient (≥1500 mL) | 186 (63.5) | 98 (59.4) | 35 (47.9) | 328 (59.7) |
| Insufficient (<1500 mL) | 107 (36.5) | 67 (40.6) | 38 (52.1) | 221 (40.3) |
| Five nutrition groups per day‡ | ||||
| Balanced | 191 (65.2) | 84 (50.9) | 47 (64.4) | 328 (59.7) |
| Unbalanced | 102 (34.8) | 81 (49.1) | 26 (35.6) | 221 (40.3) |
| Smoking habit | ||||
| Never or formerly | 218 (74.4) | 126 (76.4) | 53 (72.6) | 410 (74.7) |
| Current users | 75 (25.6) | 39 (23.6) | 20 (27.4) | 139 (25.3) |
| Alcohol habit | ||||
| Never or formerly | 245 (83.6) | 139 (84.2) | 63 (86.3) | 460 (83.8) |
| Current users | 48 (15.4) | 26 (15.8) | 10 (13.7) | 89 (16.2) |
Data are expressed as numbers (percentages) or means±SDs (medians).
*18 missing data.
†All variables except NRT asked the edentulous subjects to recall their behaviours when dentate.
‡p<0.05 derived from χ2 test.
NRT, number of remaining teeth.