Oral health of centenarians and supercentenarians

Abstract

There are many studies on the homebound and institutionalized elderly; however, few studies focus on centenarians and supercentenarians, i.e., people aged 100 and 110 years, respectively. Due to the demographic changes, the population of centenarians is set to increase more than that of other age groups. Therefore, this article aims to review the available literature regarding how oral health might display in this age group and highlight aspects necessitating further research. Oral health, oral healthrelated quality of life, saliva, and the oral microbiome were emphasized in this study. Most papers relevant to the research questions were excluded because the mean age of participants was <100 years. Only two papers were found on centenarians' oral health status and saliva and no studies were found focusing on the oral health-related quality of life or oral microbiome. The reviewed studies demonstrate that centenarians presented with good oral mucosal conditions, dental conditions, and general health. The present literature is insufficient to come to a definite conclusion regarding how aging affects the oral health of centenarians and supercentenarians. The limited available research indicates that centenarians display better oral health than other individuals in their respective birth cohorts.

The Role of Oral Nitrate-Reducing Bacteria in the Prevention of Caries: A Review Related to Caries and Nitrate Metabolism

“…Based on the above microbial sequencing studies at different dentition stages, we deduce that the detection rate and relative abundance of nitrate-reducing bacteria were lower in patients with dental caries than in healthy individuals, which is consistent with a previous theory [Doel et al, 2004]. Veillonella is a type of nitrate-reducing bacteria that is statistically significantly expressed in healthy individuals compared to patients with caries [Belstrøm et al, 2014;Frese et al, 2022]. Interestingly, some studies have reported that the relative abundance of some nitrate-reducing bacteria is higher in patients with caries.…”

The rosetta stone of successful ageing: does oral health have a role?

“…They managed to show that a surprisingly large percentage of centenarians still had teeth (64%) with the mean number of teeth being 9.1 SD 7.1. Furthermore, most centenarians showed no or only moderate periodontal disease, with a minority of 19% having severe periodontitis (Micheelis 2011 ; Frese et al 2020 ). Other recent studies in a different cohort found higher rates of edentulousness, suggesting that the cultural background may play a pivotal role in interpreting this data (Sekundo et al 2020a ).…”

“…As the communication between medical and dental research develops, connections between the fields will increase and ultimately contribute to a better understanding of the human body. Within centenarian research only a handful of studies take oral health into consideration (Micheelis 2011 ; Frese et al 2020 ; Sekundo et al 2020a ; Nomura et al 2020 ; Fabbri and Rabe 2007 ; Kaufman et al 2014 ). The relationship between oral health and its potential influence on other modifying factors of ageing remains understudied.…”

Maintaining oral health for a hundred years and more? - An analysis of microbial and salivary factors in a cohort of centenarians

“…Because most centenarians escape life-threatening conditions such as cancer and circulatory diseases and remain functionally independent for most of their lives [ 29 , 30 ], their secret of longevity and health has long been of great scientific interest. However, their oral health status has not yet been widely studied [ 31 ]. It is for this reason that the Heidelberg Dental Centenarian Study (HD100Z) was initiated, the first comprehensive population-based study on the epidemiology of centenarians’ oral health in Germany.…”