Research Unit of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, Oulu 90014, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital, P.O. Box 5000, Oulu 90029, Finland. Electronic address: toni.simila@oulu.fi.
We investigated the association of impaired glucose metabolism with tooth loss in adults in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study 1966 (NFBC1966).
We examined 4394 participants from the 46-year follow-up of the NFBC1966. Self-reported number of teeth as well as insulin and glucose values, taken during a standard oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), served as the primary study variables. A multinomial logistic regression model served to analyse (unadjusted, smoking-adjusted and fully adjusted) the association between number of teeth (0-24, 25-27, 28-32) and glucose metabolism in women and men.
Among women, type 2 diabetes - whether previously known or detected during screening - pointed to a higher likelihood of 0-24 teeth (fully adjusted OR?=?2.99, 95%CI?=?1.54-5.80) and 25-27 teeth (OR?=?1.91, 95%CI?=?1.18-3.08) than did normal glucose tolerance. Similarly, impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance together indicated a higher likelihood of 0-24 teeth (OR?=?1.71, 95%CI?=?1.09-2.69) than did normal glucose tolerance. A similar, statistically non-significant, pattern emerged among men. Number of teeth associated with OGTT insulin and glucose curves as well as with the Matsuda index in both women and men.
Tooth loss strongly associated with impaired glucose metabolism in middle-aged Finnish women.