Risk factors and associated pathway for rural and urban unmet dental prosthetic needs among older adults in Central India

• Published in: Special care in dentistry 2024-07, Vol.44 (4), p.1182-1190
• Main Authors: Singh, Abhinav, Purohit, Bharathi M., Purohit, Abhishek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dental caries; dental prosthetic needs; geriatric population; Gum disease; inequity; Older people; oral health; Periodontal diseases; Population studies; Prostheses; Risk factors
• ISSN: 0275-1879; 1754-4505; 1754-4505
• DOI: 10.1111/scd.12967

Aim This study was undertaken to evaluate the risk factors and associated pathways for unmet dental prosthetic needs among older adult population in Central India. Methods A total of 11,145 randomly selected older adults participated in the study; 4613 from urban region and 6532 form rural region. Oral examinations were conducted at individual households for recording dental caries, periodontal disease, prosthetic status and needs. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to examine relationship between a set of exogenous variables and unmet dental prosthetic needs with variables that remained significant in the adjusted multilevel logistic model. Path coefficients were calculated for all variables with 95% confidence interval. Goodness of fit of the model was assessed by several indices. Results A total of 8433 (75.7%) participants had never visited a dentist and 9139 (82%) had unmet dental prosthetic needs. Dental caries was observed among 3207 (69.5%) and 4644 (71.1%) study participants from urban and rural regions respectively (p