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Using a denture, a bridge, a crown or an implant increased the likelihood of being happy by 11-16%

Nov. 2, 2022

 Self-rated happiness is an important indicator for the well-being. But, little is known about oral health and self-rated happiness in the older population. This study investigated the association among two oral health indicators (number of teeth and using a dental prosthesis) and self-rated happiness using the survey data collected for the JAGES study at a single time point in 2016. The results for the 178,090 participants (age=65 years or older) in this study showed that those with higher number of teeth were happier than those with fewer number of teeth (categories of number of teeth were 20 teeth or more, 10-19 teeth and 0-9 teeth). Also, those who used a dental prosthesis (a denture for example) were happier than those who didn’t use a dental prosthesis if the number of remaining teeth in one’s mouth was less than 20 teeth. But, using a denture for those with 20 or more teeth didn’t affect the self-rated happiness. The preservation of the remaining teeth may improve happiness in the older population. Also, the provision of dental prostheses for those who have fewer than 20 remaining teeth may also improve happiness.
(In this study, dental prosthesis use is defined as the use of one of the following; a denture, a bridge or a dental implant)
The findings of this study were published on April 19th, 2022, in The journal of prosthetic dentistry, JPD.


Figure 1. Interaction between number of remaining teeth with and without dental prosthesis use on self-reported happiness (%), adjusted for all covariates (age, sex, marital status, educational attainment, self-rated health status, self-rated economic situation, and having symptoms of depression)
Press release(PDF)
Publication Details:
Title:Association among the number of teeth, dental prosthesis use, and subjective happiness: A cross-sectional study from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation study (JAGES)
Authors:Abbas H, Aida J, Kondo K, Osaka K
Journal: The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry
DOI: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2022.02.014
Contact:
Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University, Graduate School of Dentistry,
Professor Ken Osaka: osaka*m.tohoku.ac.jp (Please change * to @)
PhD student Hazem Abbas: haz-60.res_koku_sai-1623*dc.tohoku.ac.jp (Please change * to @)