Incidence of Tooth Loss in Remote Indigenous Populations of the Amazon Region: A 13-Year Cohort Study Before and After Belo Monte Dam

Renata Travassos da Rosa Moreira Bastos, Eduardo Oliveira da Costa, Lucca Sicilia and David Normando ()
Additional contact information
Renata Travassos da Rosa Moreira Bastos: Post-Graduation Program of Dentistry, Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, PA, Brazil
Eduardo Oliveira da Costa: Independent Researcher, Belém 66055-490, PA, Brazil
Lucca Sicilia: Faculty of Dentistry, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, PA, Brazil
David Normando: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, PA, Brazil

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Tooth loss among indigenous people in the Amazon emphasizes the need for culturally appropriate oral health interventions. The objective of this study was to analyze the incidence of tooth loss in two remote Amazon indigenous populations. This prospective cohort evaluated a total of 47 indigenous in the permanent dentition at T0 and thirteen years later (T1) from two villages, Arara-Laranjal (n = 28, mean age 16.1 and 29.9 years) and Assurini do Xingu (n = 19, mean age 15.9 and 29.5 years), of different ethnic groups. A multilevel Poisson regression model assessed the influence of village, sex, and age on tooth loss. At T0, the indigenous people had all their permanent teeth. Forty-two lost at least one tooth (89%), and a total of 172 teeth were lost at T1 at an incidence of 97% among females and 76% in males. There was no influence of ethnicity on tooth loss ( p = 1.000). A lower risk of tooth loss was associated with male subjects (β = −0.50, p < 0.05) but not with age. In females (22/46.8%) and males (11/23.4%), the highest incidence of tooth loss was the lower second molars. The risk was higher among females, and there was no influence on age, village, or ethnicity. The second and first molars were the most affected teeth. These findings suggest an increase in tooth loss caused by close contact between indigenous and urban populations.

Keywords: indigenous people; tooth loss; incidence; epidemiologic studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/1/128/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/1/128/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:1:p:128-:d:1571323

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().