Here's What Your Oral Health Says About Your Life Expectancy

You might already know that gum disease has been linked to everything from heart conditions to IBS, depression, and tooth loss.

It’s even been linked to earlier death. 

Some research has suggested that tooth loss can herald a faster progression of musculoskeletal frailty, too.

But research published in Geriatrics & Gerontology International has linked “oral frailty,” or the health and robustness of older people’s mouths themselves, with life expectancy. 

They said that poor oral health might significantly reduce a person’s “healthy life expectancy”.

What does “oral frailty” mean? 

You can have all your teeth and still face “oral frailty”.

The term, which is described as a “worldwide problem among older adults,” is used to describe an often age-related loss of oral function and/or normal oral structure.

Oral frailty can include tooth loss, but also refers to a person’s ability (or inability) to chew, swallow, produce enough saliva, and speak. 

What effect does “oral frailty” have on your healthy lifespan?

This study looked at data from just over 11,000 participants aged 65 and above from the 2016 Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES). 

They compared the dental health of participants to their predicted “healthy life expectancy”. 

A healthy life expectancy (HLE) is defined by the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities as ”’a measure of the average number of years a person would expect to live in good health based on contemporary mortality rates and prevalence of self-reported good health”.

12% of the participants in this study had oral frailty at the start of the study. They were 23% more likely to develop a disability in the follow-up period (six years on average) than those without oral frailty. 

Those with oral frailty were also 34% more likely to die during this study’s follow-up.

The scientists wrote that oral frailty “significantly reduces HLE”.

Is there anything I can do to prevent or manage oral frailty? 

The researchers also looked at how many participants had been to the dentist in the six months prior to starting the study. 

50% had seen a dentist in that time period.

Though this study didn’t prove that dentist visits definitely reduced the prevalence of oral frailty, the researchers wrote, “dental visits may mitigate this outcome in older adults,” pointing to other research which highlighted links between healthy teeth and a longer life.

“These findings suggest the need for public health policies promoting oral health, which could significantly improve the quality of life and reduce disability burden among older adults.”