Association between age at asthma diagnosis and tooth loss.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the association between age at asthma diagnosis and tooth loss due to caries using data obtained from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A complex sample multivariable linear regression was used, and the results were analysed. Age at diagnosis and the number of teeth lost were set as independent and dependent variables, respectively. Among the total 65,973 subjects, 10,056 aged <12 years and 11,714 with missing values in dependent and independent variables were excluded. Asthmatic subjects were divided into the following age groups based on the age at diagnosis: 0-6 years, 7-12 years, 13-18 years, 19-28 years, and 29-64 years. In each analysis, the calibration was performed by adding covariates to each model.

RESULTS: Compared with the no asthma group (β = 0), the values of β in asthmatic subjects belonging to the age groups 0-6 years (β = 0.794, 0.521, 0.560) and 7-12 years (β = 0.527, 0.407, 0.437) were high in all models.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings revealed significant increase in tooth loss due to caries after early asthma diagnosis at 0-6 years (β = 0.560, p < .001) and 7-12 years (β = 0.437, p < .001). Clinicians need to shift their perception of dental risks in young asthmatic patients and provide active oral health care to them.