Perceived Oral Health in a Diverse Sample

Abstract

Measures of perceived oral health represent subjective, individual perspectives of one's health. One measure commonly used is the single-item perceived oral health rating: How would you rate your overall oral health? These analyses examine the associations among age, ethnicity, and perceived oral health within the context of a comprehensive battery of 21 predisposing, enabling, and need variables. The study compares the adult data from three United States research locations of the International Collaborative Study of Oral Health Outcomes (ICS-II). Only social survey data were used for this analysis. The multiple regression model explains over 30% of the variance in perceived oral health, with R squares ranging from 0.324 for Indian Health Service sites to 0.391 for San Antonio. The most important significant predictors include ethnic group, education, perceived general health status, being edentulous or not having a partial denture, having no oral pain, fewer oral symptoms, and having one or more dental visits. The predictors of positive perceived oral health for the diverse groups highlight interesting age and ethnic differences. The only universal predictor for the middle-aged adults was having fewer oral symptoms. For the older adults, being edentulous or not having a partial denture was the only universal predictor. The findings suggest that perceived oral health may be a useful outcome measure in dentistry because of its relation to predisposing sociodemographics and dental utilization.