Possible association between oral health and sleep duration: A cross-sectional study based on the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2010 to 2015

This study was performed to investigate the association between oral health and sleep duration in South Korean subjects using 2010–2015 data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Cross-sectional data on 35,599 adults over the age of 19 years who completed KNHANES were analyzed. All participants reported subjective oral health status and their daily average sleep duration using a self-reported questionnaire. Sleep duration and oral health status were divided into 3 categories: ≤5, 6–8, ≥9 h/day and good, fair, poor, respectively. The overall prevalence of poor oral health status was 43.8%. Univariate analysis demonstrated that poor oral health status was significantly associated with age, smoking, alcohol, diabetes, education, income, depression, marital status, and sleep duration. After adjusting for covariates (age, sex, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, smoking, income, education, marital status), sleep durations of ≤5 hours (OR = 1.42; 95% CI, 1.26–1.60) and ≥9 hours (OR = 1.21; 95% CI, 1.04–1.40) were significantly associated with poor oral health, compared to a sleep duration of 6–8 hours. Short or long sleep duration was more likely to have an impact on the development of poor oral health status in men than in women. A significant relationship between sleep duration and oral health status was found in participants younger than 60 years. This is the first report that both short and long sleep durations are significantly associated with the development of poor oral health status. The effect of short or long sleep duration on poor oral health was more significant in younger subjects and in men.