6th German Oral Health Study (DMS • 6): research design, data collection, and statistical methods of the longitudinal study component.

The article focuses on the longitudinal component of the 6th German Oral Health Study (DMS • 6), a combined cross-sectional and cohort study conducted by the Institut der Deutschen Zahnärzte (IDZ) to analyze oral health changes over approximately nine years in Germany. The DMS • 6 cohort reexamined 1,089 participants from the previous DMS V study across three age groups—adolescents, adults, and seniors—using clinical dental examinations and social-science surveys to assess incident oral diseases, disease progression, and associated risk factors. Data collection occurred at two timepoints (2013–2014 and 2022–2023), with calibrated attrition weighting applied to address participant dropout and ensure representativeness. Statistical analyses included epidemiologic descriptions of disease incidence and progression, as well as longitudinal association models to evaluate predictors of oral health changes, thereby providing insights into lifetime oral disease trajectories within the German population.