ArticleCommunity dentistry and oral epidemiology2023
Social isolation, loneliness and accelerated tooth loss among Chinese older adults: A longitudinal study.
Article in Community dentistry and oral epidemiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Association of Socioeconomic Factors With Oral Health in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Gerodontology · 2026Pooled it
- Association of Social Support With Oral Health in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Gerodontology · 2026Pooled it
- Social Relationships and Tooth Loss in Adults Aged 60 Years and Older: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2025Pooled it
- Factors associated with oral frailty in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic review of longitudinal studies on the association between cluster of health-related behaviors and tooth loss among adults.Acta odontologica Scandinavica · 2024Pooled it
- The relationship between oral health and active aging among the elderly in rural China: the chain mediating effect of intergenerational support and social isolation.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Sex differences in the association between tooth loss and socioeconomic status: the 8020 Promotion Foundation Study of Japanese Dental Patients.BMC oral health · 2026Observational
- Social Support and Functional Dentition Among English Older Adults.Dentistry journal · 2025Article
- Association Between Swallowing Dysfunction and Multidimensional Quality of Life Among Community-Dwelling Healthy Korean Older Adults: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Psychosocial Profiles of Older Adults by Dentition Status and Dental Utilisation History.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2025Article
- Social Isolation and Loneliness in Asian American Older Adults: A Scoping Review.The Gerontologist · 2025Article
- Non-use of dentures after tooth loss is associated with elevated sodium/potassium ratios in older adults: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in dental medicine · 2025Article
- Associations between tooth loss, denture use, and dementia in older Taiwanese adults.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2025Article
- Oral health inequities over time among older adults of different racial/ethnic backgrounds: a comparative decomposition analysis across Australia and the United States.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- [Analysis of the Occurrence and Influencing Factors of Oral Frailty in Elderly Residents of Elderly Care Facilities].Sichuan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Sichuan University. Medical science edition · 2024Article
- AI's Role in Improving Social Connection and Oral Health for Older Adults: A Synergistic Approach.JDR clinical and translational research · 2024Article
- Trends in the prevalence of social isolation among middle and older adults in China from 2011 to 2018: the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Validity of self-reported number of teeth among Saudi older adults: A public health perspective.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2024Article
- Article
- Loneliness and low life satisfaction associated with older adults' poor oral health.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveSocial isolation and loneliness have been linked to numerous determinants of health and well-being. However, the effects of social isolation and loneliness on oral health remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social isolation and loneliness on the number of remaining teeth and the rate of tooth loss over time among Chinese older adults.
methodsWe used three waves of data (2011/2012, 2014 and 2018) from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey with 4268 older adults aged 65 and older who were interviewed in at least two waves. The number of remaining teeth was first evaluated at baseline and then subsequently at follow-up visits. Mixed-effects Poisson regression was used to examine the associations between social isolation, loneliness, and both the number of remaining teeth and the rate of tooth loss.
resultsSocial isolation was associated with fewer remaining teeth (β = -.06, 95% CI = -0.13 to 0.00, p < .05) and accelerated tooth loss (β = -.02, 95% CI = -0.02 to -0.01, p < .01) after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, lifestyle and oral hygiene behaviours, physical and cognitive health, and loneliness. Loneliness was neither associated with the number of remaining teeth (β = .15, 95% CI = -0.01 to 0.30, p = .06) nor with the rate of tooth loss (β = -.01, 95% CI = -0.02 to 0.00, p = .16) after adjusting for all other factors.
conclusionsThis study provides strong evidence that social isolation was associated with fewer remaining teeth and accelerated tooth loss among Chinese older adults. These findings expand our knowledge about the impact of social disconnection on tooth loss. More future studies are needed to further examine the associations between social connections and oral conditions using longitudinal cohort studies and intervention studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.