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Listl S, Broadbent JM, Thomson JM et al. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2018; 46: 78–87

Data was collected from 41,560 respondents aged 50+ across 14 European countries plus Israel. Respondents were asked to recall information from their childhood – whether there were more or less than 26 books in the home, how many rooms per occupant and their standard of living in comparison to their peers, as well as current dental attendance, self-rated health and a measurement of grip strength to assess frailty. A measure of educational attainment was also recorded and respondents were also asked how many teeth they had lost.

Fewer retained teeth were associated with poorer social circumstances in youth, lesser educational attainment and fewer books in the home. Those reporting good general health in the present retained more teeth than those recording poorer health, as did those with the highest income. These should not be represented as causal relationships but that these results do confirm the findings of previous researchers.