Periodontitis and multiple markers of cardiometabolic risk in the fourth decade: A cohort study.

Objectives: To examine associations between periodontitis at ages 32 and 38 and a range of early cardiometabolic risk biomarkers at age 38.

Methods: Periodontal probing depth and bleeding on probing data collected during the age-32 and age-38 assessments in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study were used to quantify periodontal inflammatory load. Retinal microvascular abnormalities, endothelial dysfunction, and metabolic syndrome data were collected during the age-38 assessment.

Periodontitis is not associated with metabolic risk during the fourth decade of life.

Aim: To examine associations between periodontitis and developmental trajectories of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) during the third and fourth decades in an initially healthy sample.

Materials And Methods: HbA1c data collected at ages 26, 32 and 38 in the prospective Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study were used to assign study members (n = 893) to trajectories applying group-based trajectory modelling (GBTM). The model allowed the statistical linking of baseline demographic, smoking and waist-height ratio covariates to group membership probability; and added a time-varying covariate (periodontitis) to the trajectories themselves to examine whether events that occurred during the course of the trajectory altered its course.

High-risk glycated hemoglobin trajectories established by mid-20s: findings from a birth cohort study.

Objective: To describe the natural history of glycemia (as measured by glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c)) over 12 years using group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM), and to examine baseline predictors of trajectory.

Research Design And Methods: HbA1c data collected at ages 26, 32 and 38 in the long-running, prospective Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study were used to assign study members (n=893) to trajectories applying GBTM. A generalization of the model allowed the statistical linking of baseline demographic, smoking and anthropometric characteristics to group membership probability.

Reexamining the association between smoking and periodontitis in the dunedin study with an enhanced analytical approach.

Background: Smoking is a major risk factor for periodontal disease. Conventional oral epidemiology approaches have found strong, consistent associations between chronic smoking and periodontal attachment loss (AL) through ages 26, 32, and 38 years, but those statistical methods disregarded the data's hierarchical structure. This study reexamines the association using hierarchical modeling to: 1) overcome the limitations of an earlier approach (trajectory analysis) to the data and 2) determine the robustness of the earlier inferences.

The natural history of periodontal attachment loss during the third and fourth decades of life.

Aim: To describe changes in the occurrence of periodontal attachment loss (AL) through ages 26, 32 and 38 in a complete birth cohort.

Materials And Methods: Systematic periodontal examinations conducted at ages 26, 32 and 38 in a longstanding New Zealand cohort study (N = 1037). Periodontitis extent data were used to assign participants to periodontitis trajectories using group-based trajectory analysis.

Family history and oral health: findings from the Dunedin Study.

Context: The effects of the oral health status of one generation on that of the next within families are unclear.

Objectives:   To determine whether parental oral health history is a risk factor for oral disease.

Methods: Oral examination and interview data were collected during the age-32 assessments in the Dunedin Study.

Does maternal oral health predict child oral health-related quality of life in adulthood?

Background: A parental/family history of poor oral health may influence the oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) of adults.

Objectives: To determine whether the oral health of mothers of young children can predict the OHRQOL of those same children when they reach adulthood.

Methods: Oral examination and interview data from the Dunedin Study's age-32 assessment, as well as maternal self-rated oral health data from the age-5 assessment were used.

Inter-generational continuity in periodontal health: findings from the Dunedin family history study.

Objective: To determine whether parental periodontal disease history is a risk factor for periodontal disease in adult offspring.

Methods: Proband periodontal examination [combined attachment loss (CAL) at age 32, and incidence of CAL from ages 26 to 32] and interview data were collected during the age-32 assessments in the Dunedin Study. Parental data were also collected.

Intergenerational continuity in oral health: a review.

Life course research considers not only the influences on health which act during the lifespan but it is also concerned with factors that act across generations. Rarely are genetics or environment solely responsible for producing individual variation; virtually all characteristics are the result of gene-environment interaction. An increasing interest in life course research and gene-environment interactions is reflected in greater awareness of the role of family history and intergenerational continuity in oral health as a practical, inexpensive approach to categorizing genetic risk for many common, preventable disorders of adulthood (including oral disease).

Experiences and perceptions of oral health and oral health care among a sample of older New Zealanders.

Background:  Most research on older people's oral health has been quantitative. A need for more in-depth understanding of the oral health of that age group has pointed to a need for more qualitative investigations.

Objective: To explore experiences and perceptions of oral health and oral health care among an ethnically-mixed sample of older New Zealanders.