Long-term regular dental attendance and periodontal disease in the 1998 adult dental health survey.

AIM: The aim of this study was to explore the association between long-term pattern of dental attendance and periodontal disease among British adults. METHODS: We used data from 3272 adults who participated in the 1998 Adult Dental Health Survey in the UK. Participants were classified into four trajectories (current, always, former and never regular attenders) based on their responses to three questions on lifetime dental attendance patterns. The numbers of teeth with pocket depth (PD) >/=4 mm and loss of attachment (LOA) >/=4 mm were the outcome measures. The association between dental attendance patterns and each periodontal measure was assessed in crude and adjusted models using negative binomial regression. RESULTS: Never and former regular attenders had more teeth with PD >/=4 mm (Rate Ratios with 95% Confidence Interval: 1.58 [1.28-1.95] and 1.34 [1.12-1.60] respectively) and LOA >/=4 mm (1.34 [1.04-1.72] and 1.37 [1.07-1.75] respectively) than always regular attenders, after adjustments for demographic (sex, age and country of residence) and socioeconomic factors (education and social class). However, no differences in periodontal measures were found between always and current regular attenders. CONCLUSION: This analysis of national cross-sectional data shows that adults with different long-term patterns of dental attendance have different periodontal health status.