Abstract
This study confirmed the association between Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) in the middle-aged and the older adults, and confirmed the factors affecting those, respectively. Data on the general characteristics of 6,940 individuals were obtained from the 7th Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing and analyzed using a complex samples t-test and analysis of variance. To investigate the effect of control variables and MMSE on GOHAI, complex samples multiple linear regression analysis was used. The effect of MMSE on oral health was greater in older adults (0.272) than that in middle-aged adults (0.255). In the case of the middle-aged, education level, health insurance, and subjective health status are factors that affect oral health in addition to MMSE, and for the older adults, sex, age, and present labor are factors that affect oral health. Through this study, it is necessary to develop oral care and oral health management programs from middle-aged for healthy old age.