Sir, oral frailty can lead to a variety of associated diseases and increase the risk of physical frailty, sarcopenia, disability, mild cognitive impairment, lowering renal function, late-life depression and mortality.

In 2018, Tanaka et al. reported that 16% of 2,011 elderly individuals over 65 years had oral frailty at baseline, which was significantly associated with 2.4-, 2.2-, 2.3-, and 2.2-fold increased risk of physical frailty, sarcopenia, disability, and mortality, respectively.1

Oral frailty for mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older adults of 1,410 participants with average age 72.4 was investigated.2 The group with oral frailty had a significantly higher hazard ratio for new-onset mild cognitive impairment than the other groups without oral frailty.

Nakai et al. studied the association between bone mineral density and oral frailty.3 Their study included 444 residents aged 40 years and older. They found that lower bone mineral density seems to be associated with lower renal function only when accompanied by oral frailty.

In 1,100 community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan, physical frailty and oral frailty were significantly associated with a major mental health problem such as late-life depression.4

The latest research results suggest that regular oral care can help to reduce the risk of developing diseases of older adults associated with oral frailty.