Dental attendance and dental status.

This article examines the relationship between differences in dental attendance patterns and variations in dental status. A sample of 336 dentate men and 110 dentate women were selected at random from employees of two industrial plants in N.W. England in 1980. They were given a dental examination and asked about visits to the dentist. Regression analysis showed that while the more frequent the dental visits, the lower the rate of tooth loss and the fewer the number of teeth with active decay, the higher, however, the average number of fillings. There were significant differences, moreover, between manual and non-manual workers, the former being more likely to lose their teeth and the latter to have their teeth filled, at each given age and frequency of dental visit. Though the more frequent dental attenders had the advantage over the less frequent of having, on average, a higher number of functioning teeth, restored or otherwise sound, they also had the disadvantage of having higher levels of treated disease and thus of disease experience. The results suggest that while frequent dental visits help to postpone tooth loss and to maintain dental function, they do not apparently help to prevent the onset of further disease.