Relationship between cognitive impairment and oral health:: results of the Health 2000 Health Examination Survey in Finland

Objective. The aim was to study oral health in relation to cognitive impairment in the general population. Material and Methods. The study population comprised 2320 persons aged 55 years or older who participated in a nationally representative Health 2000 Health Examination Survey in Finland. The data were collected by interviews and clinical oral examinations. Cognition was assessed using a shortened version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (score 0-16). Poisson regression models were used to estimate the relative risk (RR) for continuous variables and logistic regression models to estimate the odds ratio (OR) for dichotomized variables. Results. The results show that individuals with cognitive impairment have more carious teeth (MMSE 11-10: RR: 1.3, CI: 0.9-1.7, MMSE 9-0: RR: 1.5 CI: 1.0-2.4) than healthy persons. Furthermore, compared to cognitively healthy subjects, those with MMSE 9-0 more often have no teeth and no dentures (OR: 5.2, CI: 1.0-26.6) and less often good denture hygiene (OR: 0.4, CI: 0.2-0.7). Conclusion. Cognitively impaired subjects among older adults in Finland have more carious teeth, are more often edentulous without using a denture, and have poorer denture hygiene than cognitively healthy persons.