Tooth loss and rehabilitation in the elderly: an intersectional analysis of gender, race, and territory.

Authors

Ana Karine Macedo Teixeira, Raul Anderson Domingues Alves da Silva, Alice Castro Guedes Mendonça, Kenio Costa de Lima

Published in

Revista brasileira de epidemiologia = Brazilian journal of epidemiology. Volume 29Suppl 1. Issue Suppl 1. Pages e260020supl1. Epub Jul 24, 2026.

Abstract

To assess tooth loss, dental function, and rehabilitation in older adults in 2010 and 2023, and its intersection with gender, race, and territory.
A sample of elderly individuals from the 2023 National Oral Health Survey (SB Brasil) (n=9,745) and 2010 (n=7,619) was used. The outcomes were: tooth loss, dental functionality, and oral rehabilitation in the elderly population. Demographic data (sex, race, age, and Brazilian regions) were used as independent variables. Poisson regression was performed for each oral health variable based on an interaction model between race/color and gender, stratified by region.
The oral health status of the elderly population improved between 2010 and 2023, with reduction in edentulism (from 53.4% to 36%), and increase in functional dentition (from 13.2% to 28.6%) and complete anterior dentition (from 12.4 to 21.2%). The use of prostheses in elderly individuals with fewer than 20 teeth did not improve during the evaluated period. In the intersectional analysis, black women presented a higher prevalence of edentulism (PR=1.16; CI 1.04-1.29), lower functional dentition (PR=0.74; CI 0.66-0.83), and lower anterior dentition (PR=0.85; CI 0.78-0.93) compared to white men, while black men were the least rehabilitated (PR=0.83; CI 0.78-0.90). Gender and racial inequalities varied across regions. The North region, despite having the worst oral health conditions among the elderly population, did not show inequality in functional dentition and edentulism.
Despite advances in oral health among elderly Brazilians, inequalities persist, marked by the intersection of gender, race, and territory, with a more severe impact on black women.

PMID:
42524996
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Jul 2026.

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