Oral Health and Quality of Life Among Elderly in Thailand

Oral health contributes physically and psychologically to quality of life. Objective: To investigate the relationshipof oral health status with oral health related and general Quality of Life (QOL) in elderly. Methods: Subjects were612 community dwelling Thai aged 60 years or older. A questionnaire was evaluate socio-demographics, generaloral health assessment index (GOHAI) and world health organization quality of life (WHOQOL). Oral examinationsassessed teeth present, decayed teeth, gingival bleeding, pocket depth, functional tooth units (FTUs) and salivaryflow rate. Results: For dentate subjects (n=428), logistic regression showed that teeth present, decayed teeth, gingivalbleeding, pocket depth, FTUs and saliva flow rate were associated with GOHAI (p 0.05). Regarding WHOQOL,teeth present, gingival bleeding and FTUs were associated with physical domain (p 0.05). Teeth present, decayedteeth, gingival bleeding and FTUs were related with psychological domain (p 0.05). Teeth present and FTUs wereassociated with environmental and social domain (p 0.05). For edentulous subjects (n=184), denture wearing wasassociated with GOHAI and all domains of WHOQOL (p 0.05). Conclusion: The number of teeth present, denturewearing and FTUs strongly affected GOHAI and general QOL. Dental caries, periodontal status and salivary flowrate also affected GOHAI and some domains of general QOL of elderly.