The effect of missing teeth on dementia in older people: a nationwide population-based cohort study in South Korea

BACKGROUND: To determine the effect of missing teeth on the risk of dementia onset among individuals who received tooth extractions and those who did not, based on the number of missing teeth. METHODS: We selected individuals who had not been diagnosed or treated for dementia between 2002 to 2011 from the National Health Insurance Service-Elderly Cohort Database (NHIS-ECD). We divided participants into two cohorts, a tooth extraction and non-extraction cohort, based on tooth loss from 2002 to 2011. After propensity score matching, there were 104,903 individuals in each cohort, and we included a total of 209,806 individuals in this study. Each cohort was grouped by sex, age, residential area, health insurance eligibility, income level, history of dental caries, history of periodontal treatment, and number of extracted teeth. We analyzed the relationship between dementia onset and these variables using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Individuals with tooth loss had a higher risk for dementia than those without tooth loss (odds ratio [OR] = 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.146–1.215). Regarding the incidence of dementia, the OR increased as the number of missing teeth and age increased, and the OR was higher for women (OR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.286–1.367) than for men, and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01). The incidence of dementia decreased with periodontal treatment (OR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.932–0.992) and increased with dental caries (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.035–1.101). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that it is important to delay tooth loss and preserve the stable remaining teeth to help prevent dementia. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12903-019-0750-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.