Affiliation:
1. Department of Geography and Environment Western University London Canada
2. Department of Health and Society University of Toronto Scarborough Scarborough Canada
3. Department of Public Health St. Lawrence University Canton USA
4. Department of Geography and Planning Queen's University Kingston Canada
5. Department of Sociology and Anthropology Nipissing University North Bay Canada
Abstract
AbstractIntroductionOlder adults in Ghana have been disproportionately affected by oral health issues such as caries and periodontitis. This situation calls for comprehensive attention within health and healthcare policies, due to the established connections between oral health and other aspects of health and well‐being in high‐income countries, including physical and mental health. However, there is a significant gap in the literature when it comes to exploring the association of oral health with physical and mental health in resource‐constrained settings like Ghana.MethodsTo address this void, we collected a cross‐sectional sample comprising older adults aged 60 and above (n = 1073) and analyzed self‐rated health measures to investigate the relationship between oral health and general and mental health in Ghana.ResultsThe results of our logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association: older adults who reported poor oral health were more likely to rate their general (OR = 5.10; p < .001) and mental health (OR = 4.78, p < .001) as poor, compared to those with good oral health, even after accounting for demographic and socioeconomic variables.ConclusionsBased on these findings, we discuss the policy implications of our findings, especially in the context of advancing Sustainable Development Goal 3 in Ghana and other resource‐constrained settings.