Expectation of retaining natural teeth for a lifetime and its predictors among Norwegian adults.

Objective: To determine the extent to which Norwegian adults expect to retain their natural teeth for life, and to assess the effect of possible predictors of expectancy.

Design: Cross-sectional random sample survey.

Setting: Participants were interviewed in person or by telephone in August/September 1999.

Subjects: A representative nationwide sample aged 15-79 years (n = 1,287). The participation rate was 65%. The results pertain to 1,154 subjects aged 16-79 years with > or = 20 teeth.

Outcome Measure: Expectation of retaining natural teeth for life.

Results: About 42% believed definitely that they would retain their natural teeth for life. The rate was 88% when those who answered 'possibly' were included. Logistic regression analysis showed that gender (OR = 1.9, 95% CL 1.25, 2.87), appearance (OR = 2.8, 95% CL 1.85, 4.29) and chewing ability (OR = 2.4, 95% CL 1.26, 4.46) were significant predictors of the expectancy to retain 20 or more natural teeth for life. Explained variance expressed in terms of Nagelkerke's R2 was 0.093.

Conclusions: About 40% of Norwegians definitely expected to retain > or = 20 natural teeth for life, 88% believed this to be 'definitely' or 'possibly'. Gender, appearance and chewing ability were significant predictors but their explanatory effect was low.