Understanding the ‘epidemic’ of complete tooth loss among older New Zealanders

Abstract

The aim of this study was to obtain a deeper understanding of the social factors driving New Zealand's historic 'epidemic of edentulism' and how they operated. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 31 older New Zealanders were analysed using applied grounded theory. Universal factors present in the data were: (a) the way in which New Zealand society accepted and indeed encouraged edentulism without stigma for those who had a 'sub-optimal' natural dentition; (b) how the predominant patterns of dental care utilisation (symptomatic and extraction-based) were often strongly influenced by economic and social disadvantage; and (c) the way in which lay and professional worldviews relating to 'calcium theory' and dental caries were fundamental in decisions relating to the transition to edentulism. Major influences were rural isolation, the importance of professional authority and how patient-initiated transitions to edentulism were ultimately facilitated by an accommodating profession. The combined effects of geography, economics, the dental care system and the professional culture of the day, in the context of contemporary (flawed) understandings of oral disease, appear to have been the key drivers. These were supported (in turn) by a widespread acceptance by the profession and society alike of the extraction/denture philosophy in dealing with oral disease.