Page 52 - Petelin, Ana. 2024. Ed. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih | Health of the Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik prispevkov z recenzijo | Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press

years old (40.3%). Most participants had at least a secondary education (58.7%)
and came from urban (35.1%) and rural (42.2%) living environment.
Most of the participants had no limitations. 31.9% of adults experienced
occasionally or more often impairment of OHRQoL due to at least one limi-
tation caused by dental problems. There were differences in the prevalence of
specific limitations, with the most common limitations being painful gums/
mouth sore (26.9%), 19.5% had difficulty eating and 19.1% felt tense due to oral
and/or dental problems. 10% reported difficulty performing daily tasks and
12.7% reported dental pain. We also found differences in the prevalence of lim-
itations in social interactions due to the appearance of teeth: 13.2% reported
that they avoided smiling or laughing, 9.1% reported that they felt embarrassed
about the appearance of their teeth (or dentures), and about 5% reported that
they avoided conversations or social activities due to the appearance of their
teeth. The detailed data are shown in Table 1.

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Table 1: Prevalence of certain limitations that occurred occasionally
or more often (N=1,164).
zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih | health of working-age and older adults
Participants with occasional or more often limitations
(N) (%)
Painful gums/mouth sore 287 26.9
Difficulty eating 220 19.5
Felt tense 206 19.1
Difficulty performing daily tasks 106 10.0
Dental pain 143 12.7
Avoiding smiling/laughing 151 13.2
Avoiding conversations 56 5.0
Avoiding social activities 52 4.7
Felt embarrassed 102 9.1

We found no differences between men and women who occasionally or
more often experienced limitations in their daily lives due to oral and/or den-
tal problems. However, a slightly higher proportion of women reported feeling
embarrassed occasionally or more often about the appearance of their teeth (or
dentures) (women 4%, men 2%; CCP test, p=0.042).
Regarding age, the frequency of limitations in daily life due to oral
and/or dental problems increased with age. The proportion of people with
more frequent limitations in daily life was highest in the 55–74 age group,
then gradually decreased and was lowest in the 18 –34 age group, as shown
in Figure 1. In contrast, no differences were found in the avoidance of social
interactions due to the appearance of the teeth in relation to the age of the
participants.