Better daily dental routine could help retain youthful looks

(HealthDay)—Lifestyle factors, including personal effort in oral hygiene, can have long-term effects on perceived facial age, according to a study published online Jan. 27 in the British Journal of Dermatology.

David Andrew Gunn, Ph.D., from Unilever R&D in Sharnbrook, U.K., and colleagues evaluated the effects of lifestyle on facial wrinkling and perceived facial age in two cohorts (318 Dutch men and 329 Dutch women aged 45 to 75 years participating in the Leiden Longevity Study and 162 nonsmoking English women aged 45 to 75 years).

The researchers found that in Dutch men, smoking, having skin that went red in the sun, being in the sun most of the summer, sun-bed use, wearing false teeth, and not flossing teeth were all significantly associated with a total 9.3-year-higher perceived facial age when adjusting for chronological age. Smoking, sun-bathing, sun-bed use, few remaining teeth, and a low body mass index were associated with a total 10.9-year-higher perceived facial age in Dutch women. A total 9.1-year-higher perceived facial age was associated with cleaning teeth only once a day, wearing false teeth, irregular skin moisturization, and having skin that went red in the sun among English women. Smoking and sun-bed use were more strongly associated with wrinkling in women than in men.

"Although associative in nature, these results support the notion that lifestyle factors can have long-term beneficial effects on youthful looks," the authors write.

Several authors are employed by Unilever, which provided some funding for the study.