Objective To understand the prevalence of and association of the number of natural teeth with frailty among the community-dwelling older people in Guangzhou city, and to provide evidence for frailty prevention of and health management in the population.

Methods A face-to-face questionnaire survey and oral examination were conducted among 1 342 elderly residents (aged 65 years and older) recruited through random cluster sampling in a community in a district of Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, from September to October 2021. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between frailty and the number of natural teeth in older people.

Results Of the 1 153 participants finally included in the analysis, 224 (19.4%) were classified as frail, and the numbers (percentages) of participants with zero, 1 – 10, 11 – 20, and more than 20 natural teeth were 207 (18.0%), 184 (16.0%), 239 (20.7%), and 523 (45.3%), respectively. After adjustment for sex, age, education, average monthly personal income, living alone, smoking, alcohol consumption, home renovation in the last 2 years, and use of biomass fuel, multivariate logistic regression results showed that participants with a higher number of natural teeth had a reduced risk of frailty compared to those with no natural teeth, with odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of 0. 57 (0.35 – 0.92), 0.64 (0.25 – 0.99), and 0.37 (0.25 – 0.54) for those with 1 – 10, 11 – 20, and >20 natural teeth, respectively.

Conclusion The number of natural teeth is inversely correlated with the prevalence of frailty among community-dwelling older people in Guangzhou city.