Sociodemographic, lifestyle, overall health and oral health factors associated with negative self-perception of oral health among the elderly: a cross-sectional study, Brazil, 2019.

OBJECTIVE: To identify sociodemographic, lifestyle and overall health factors and variables related to oral health conditions associated with negative perception of oral health among older Brazilians. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, population-based study using data extracted from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey. Initially, the chi-square test was used for data analysis. Subsequently, multivariate Poisson regression analysis was performed to determine adjusted prevalence ratios. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 22,728 older adults. Of the participants, 33.2% identified their oral health as poor or very poor. This negative self-perception, based on the multivariate analysis, was associated with male sex (p-value<0.001; prevalence ratio [PR] 1.03; 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 1.02; 1.04), Black people (p-value<0.001; PR 1.04; 95%CI 1.03; 1.05), illiterate people (p-value<0.001; PR 1.03; 95%CI 1.02; 1.05), those with multimorbidity (p-value<0.001; PR 1.03; 95%CI 1.02; 1.03), those who did not brush their teeth every day (p-value<0.001; PR 1.14; 95%CI 1.07; 1.22), those who did not have dental insurance (p-value<0.001; PR 1.05; 95%CI 1.04; 1.06), those who had difficulty eating (p-value<0.001; RP 1.34; 95%CI 1.31; 1.38) and those who were not completely edentulous (p-value<0.001; 1.04; 95%CI 1.03; 1.04). CONCLUSION: Negative self-perception of oral health in older adults is associated with poorer socioeconomic conditions, accumulation of chronic diseases in a single individual, poorer oral hygiene habits, difficulty eating, and presence of teeth in the mouth.