Association between smoking, exercise habits and dental checkups among community residents in Japan

Background:Poor lifestyle is a risk factor for oral diseases, and dental checkups are very useful for preventingoral disease. But association between lifestyle and dental checkups is unclear. The aim of this studywas to examine the association between lifestyle and participation in dental checkups.Methods:A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted in a city of Japan, from where wewere asked to evaluate the health promotion program conducted in the city. Three thousand subjects aged20 years or over were randomly selected from about 35,000 inhabitants. Completed questionnaires were obtainedfrom 1,670 persons (741 men and 929 women). The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervalfor having dental checkups was calculated using age-adjusted logistic regression models.Results:Of 1,670 subjects, 57.4% of men and 53.7% of women had dental checkups. The current smokerand ex-smoker rate were 30.2% and 29.2% for men and 9.6% and 10.7% for women, respectively. The proportionof subjects who did not perform 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise twice or more a weekwas 60.6% in men and 70.2% in women. Compared with non-smokers, the OR of having dental checkupswas significantly lower among current smokers:0.59 for men and 0.53 for women. There were no significantdifferences among ex-smokers compared with non-smokers. The OR of having dental checkups wassignificantly lower for women who never performed exercise:0.55.Conclusions:We conclude that people who have poor lifestyle, especially smokers and women who neverperform exercise, should be advised to have dental checkups