Examining determinants of oral health among older adults in Canada

Despite major improvements in Canadians’ oral health status, considerable inequities persist among vulnerable groups, including older adults. People over 65 years represent the fastest growing group in Canada, but present higher rates of dental diseases and face unique barriers to maintaining good oral health. Since oral health is an integral part of general health and well-being, it is important to explore its determinants among the aging population. This study will explore barriers and facilitators of oral health status among the aging population. The status of oral health indicators among older adults at Baseline (2015) and Follow-up 1 (2018) will be described overall and stratified by age and sex. Sex-specific analyses will explore determinants of functional independence and barriers to oral care, and their associations with oral health outcomes. Findings will help inform oral health policies and programs that support healthy aging in Canada.

We have published two papers using the CLSA oral health data:

1. Barriers to oral care: a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian longitudinal study on aging (CLSA) (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-023-02967-3): This study was to identify barriers to accessing oral health care and examine the association between socioeconomic, psychosocial, and physical measures with access to oral health care among older Canadians.

2. Oral Health Problems among Canadians Aged 45 to 85: Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging Baseline Survey (2011-2015) (https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085533): The objective of this study was to describe oral health problems among 47,581 adults aged 45 to 85 in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) among those who have at least one natural tooth (92%) and those without natural teeth across various demographic categories. Among the 47,581 participants in the study, 92% reported having at least one natural tooth (dentate). Among those without teeth, 63% reported an income less than CAD 50,000 versus 39% among those with teeth. Whether they had teeth or not, over 30% of people reported two or more oral health problems. Older adults appear to be retaining their natural teeth (28.9%), but still report experiencing oral health problems. As the population ages, loss of all teeth may not be the most useful proxy for poor oral health, and a population-level understanding of oral health problems may help to better define poor oral health.