Influence of oral health on febrile status in long-term hospitalized elderly patients

Many elderly patients have various health problems and are susceptible to recurrent fever. We examined the influence of oral health on the febrile status of 271 long-term hospitalized elderly patients over 1 year. In dentate patients, those with ≥20 teeth had a significantly higher risk for fever than those with 1–9 teeth; multivariate logistic regression analysis: odds ratio (OR) = 5.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.37–21.66. In edentate patients, those with moderate or much tongue plaque had a significantly higher risk for fever than those with no or slight tongue plaque; multivariate analysis: OR = 5.14, 95% CI = 1.77–14.88. These results suggest that oral health status related to febrile status differs between dentate and edentate patients in the elderly population.