Oral health instruction for adults should take into account the potential effect of tooth loss, as this has been suggested to predict further tooth loss. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether further tooth loss could be predicted from the number of present teeth (PT). We employed the same method as in our previous study, this time using two national surveys of dental disease, which were deemed to represent a generational cohort. Percentiles were estimated using the

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... tive frequency distribution of PT from the two surveys. The first was a survey of 704 participants aged 50-59 years conducted in 2005, and the second was a survey of 747 participants aged 56-65 years conducted in 2011. The 1st to 100th percentiles of the number of PT were calculated for both age groups. Using these percentiles and a generational cohort analysis based on the two surveys, the number of teeth lost per year could be calculated. The distribution of number of teeth lost generated a convex curve. Peak tooth loss occurred at around 12-14 PT, with 0.54 teeth being lost per year. The percentage of teeth lost (per number of PT) increased as number of PT decreased. The results confirmed that tooth loss promotes further tooth loss. These data should be made available for use in adult oral health education.