Abstract
BACKGROUND: Oral health has been associated with general health conditions, but few longitudinal studies evaluated the effect of dentition status on gait speed. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal association between different time-varying measures of dentition status (i.e., number of teeth, the presence of periodontal pockets and the functional impact of oral health) and gait speed (outcome) in older Brazilian adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective study using data from the Health, Well-being and Aging cohort study (SABE) from 2006, 2010 and 2015. The gait speed was the dependent variable and the independent variables of interest were dentition status evaluated using the number of teeth, use of dental prostheses, presence of periodontal pocket, clinical attachment loss and self-perceived poor functional oral health. Dentition status measures were obtained through clinical oral examinations, performed by trained dentists using standardized criteria proposed by the World Health Organization. Self-perceived poor functional oral health was evaluated using the functional domain of the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index. The longitudinal effect of dentition status on gait speed was evaluated using mixed-effects linear models. The effect of the number of teeth/periodontal pocket/attachment loss on gait speed change over time was evaluated by including an interaction term between these variables. The effect of periodontal pocket was tested only among dentate individuals. RESULTS: Data for the complete sample included 3,306 observations from 1,964 individuals. The analyses for dentate individuals included 1,883 observations from 1,149 individuals. There was a positive association between the number of teeth and mean gait speed. Individuals using dental prostheses also had higher means of gait speed than those without dental prostheses. Gait speed was lower among individuals with periodontal pockets and with attachment loss. No interaction was found between any of the indicators of dentition status and time. CONCLUSION: Gait speed was associated with dentition status and this association was constant over time.