Number of Teeth and Posterior Occlusal Pairs by Sociodemographic Factors in the Finnish Adult Population, Results From the Healthy Finland 2023 Study

BACKGROUND: Tooth count and edentulism have long served as key indicators in oral health research, though edentulism is becoming rarer in Western societies. In contrast, occlusal pairs as an alternative measure, and their association with sociodemographic factors, have received far less attention. OBJECTIVES: Aim of the study was to gain population-level information on the number of teeth and posterior occlusal pairs (POPs) in the Finnish adult population and whether they are associated with sociodemographic factors. METHODS: Study employed data from the nationwide Healthy Finland 2023 cross-sectional study. Participants aged 20 years and over (n = 1798) were examined clinically by trained dentists. Outcome variables were number of teeth and POPs. Sociodemographic explanatory factors were age, sex, marital status, education level, area of residence, income and urbanization. Associations were tested with Poisson regression analyses. RESULTS: Prevalence of edentulism was 4.2%. Participants had an average of 24.8 teeth (SD 7.3) and 6.5 POPs (SD 2.8). Those aged 20-54 years had almost complete dentition (mean 27.1-29.1 teeth). Older age, lower education, lower income, and being widowed were associated with a lower number of teeth and POPs. Being unmarried or living in Eastern or Northern Finland was associated with a lower number of teeth, whereas rural residence was associated with fewer POPs. CONCLUSION: Finnish adult oral health has continued improving in terms of number of teeth and prevalence of edentulism. However, better sociodemographic status is still associated with higher tooth count and POPs, education level having the strongest association.