Associations and discrepancies between global self-ratings of oral health and general health: a Bayesian approach

Objective: To estimate the discrepancies between global ratings of oral health and general health and investigate the factors associated with self-rated oral health (SROH) and self-rated general health (SRGH). Methods: Data were collected from 502 participants aged 18 to 81 years. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data regarding sociodemographic characteristics and self-reported conditions. Global self-ratings of oral health and general health were the main outcomes. Discrepancies between self-ratings of oral health and general health were stratified by independent variables. Bayesian ordinal logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the posterior distributions of parameters and 95% credible intervals (95% CrI). Results: The proportion of participants who rated their oral health worse than general health was 28.6% (95% CrI: 24.7-32.3). Negative discrepancies between SROH and SRGH were associated with being men, reporting gingivitis, and lower income. Sex (95% CrI: 1.12-2.25) impacted only on SRGH. Income (SROH – 95% CrI: 1.52-6.40; SRGH – 95% CrI: 1.08-4.56), tertiary education (SROH – 95% CrI: 1.13-2.53; SRGH – 95% CrI: 1.01-2.32), self-reported missing teeth (SROH – 95% CrI: 1.57-3.46; SRGH – 95% CrI: 2.21-4.92), self-reported gingivitis (SROH – 95% CrI: 1.10-2.40; SRGH – 95% CrI: 1.71-3.82), and self-reported chronic health problem (SROH – 95% CrI: 1.38-3.08; SRGH – 95% CrI: 1.61-3.59) impacted on both outcomes. Conclusions: Substantial discrepancies between self-rated oral health and self-rated general health were found and were associated with being male, reporting gingivitis, and having lower income. Keywords: socioeconomic factors, oral health, Bayesian analysis, public health dentistry, Patient reported outcome measures