Health behaviors and tooth retention among older adults in China: findings from the 4th Chinese national oral health survey

Table 2 Health behaviors of a sample of Chinese population (n = 9054) according to number of remained teeth

Variable	Category	No. of population	Ratio	Number of retention teeth < 20		Number of retention teeth ≥ 20		χ²	P-Value
Variable	Category	No. of population	Ratio	n	%	n	%	χ²	P-Value
Toothbrushing frequency	< 1/day	1503	16.6	473	27.9	1030	14.0	193.501	< 0.001
	1/day	4802	53.0	782	46.2	4020	54.6
	≧2/day	2749	30.4	438	25.9	2311	31.4
Using tooth picks	Never	5029	55.5	1338	79.0	3691	50.1	465.202	< 0.001
Using tooth picks	Ever	4025	44.5	355	21.0	3670	49.9
Frequency of using dental floss	Never	8874	98.0	1680	99.2	7194	97.7	15.912	< 0.001
Frequency of using dental floss	Ever	180	2.0	13	0.8	167	2.3
Using toothpaste	Never	704	7.8	352	20.8	352	4.8	491.963	< 0.001
Using toothpaste	Ever	8350	92.2	1341	79.2	7009	95.2
Fluoride toothpaste	Never	8063	89.1	1574	93.0	6489	88.2	32.769	< 0.001
Fluoride toothpaste	Ever	991	11.0	119	7.0	872	11.8
Smoking	Current smokers	2316	25.6	481	28.4	1835	24.9	13.629	0.001
	Never	5606	61.9	982	58.0	4624	62.8
	Ex-smokers	1132	12.5	230	13.6	902	12.3
Drinking alcohol	Ever	2983	33.0	483	28.5	2500	34.0	18.394	< 0.001
Drinking alcohol	Never	6071	67.1	1210	71.5	4861	66.0
Dental visit	Never	3008	33.2	394	23.3	2614	35.5	92.938	< 0.001
Dental visit	Ever	6046	66.8	1299	76.7	4747	64.5
Tooth scaling	Never	8792	97.1	1653	97.6	7139	97.0	2.090	0.171
Tooth scaling	Ever	262	2.9	40	2.4	222	3.0
Total		9054	100.0	1693	100.0	7361	100.0

ISSN: 1472-6831