Oral health impacts on self-rated general and oral health in a cross-sectional study of working age adults

OBJECTIVES: The aims were to assess the joint effects of oral health and general health functional problems on self-ratings of general and oral health among adults. METHODS: Data were collected from adults aged 30-61 years in Australia by mailed survey in 2009-2010. Self-rated health of 'very good/excellent' was analysed by oral health impact (OHIP-14) and number of health problems (EQ-5D) controlling for socio-demographics. RESULTS: Responses were collected from n = 1093 persons (response rate = 39.1%). General health self-ratings were higher in the high-income group (prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.06, 1.00-1.12) but lower for those with a higher number of health problems (PR = 0.84, 0.76-0.93). The interaction of health problems with oral health impact indicated that self-rated general health was worst when both the number of health problems and OHIP score were higher. Oral health self-ratings were lower for males (PR = 0.92, 0.87-0.98), those aged 50-61 years (PR = 0.92, 0.85-0.99), for those with more health problems (PR = 0.82, 0.71-0.95) and higher oral health impact scores (PR = 0.54, 0.46-0.64). CONCLUSIONS: For working age adults, oral health impact was associated with general health for those with more health problems indicating those in worse health suffer more impact from oral health problems.David S. Brennan and Dana N. Teusne