Missing teeth and all‐cause mortality in US adults

Abstract This study explored the associations between tooth loss and all‐cause mortality among 8710 community‐dwelling US adults aged ≥ 30 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) III in 1988–1994 and subsequently were linked to the 2006 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) public‐use mortality records. At baseline, 22.3% had all 28 non‐third molar teeth, 36.4% were missing 1–5 teeth, 28.0% 6–27 teeth, and 13.3 % all 28 teeth. During 12–18 (mean = 14.2) years, 2,385 participants died with 22.4% of the deceased being edentulous versus 12.7% having 28 teeth. Age‐adjusted mortality rate was 29.3 (±0.6)/1000 person‐years among the former versus 9.9 (±1.3) among the latter. Age‐adjusted mortality was associated with edentulism, with edentate being 2.6 times (HR = 2.58; 95% CI: 1.81–3.69) more likely to have died than fully dentate, though attenuated upon further adjustment to 45% greater risk (HR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.02–2.05). In contrast, this association between mortality and missing some, but not all teeth, was non‐significant upon adjustment for all covariates. In conclusion, edentulism—but not missing <28 teeth—among US adults aged >30 years was statistically significantly associated with all‐cause mortality over an average of 14.2 years later.