Hach M, et al. - Researchers focused on the mediated proportion of smoking and alcohol consumption in the link between education and tooth loss, and on the additive scale, to decompose the total impact of education on tooth loss into the direct influence of education, the natural indirect impact via smoking and alcohol intake (differential exposure) and the mediated interaction between education, smoking and alcohol intake on tooth loss (differential susceptibility). Among low vs highly educated men, 1202 additional persons with tooth loss per 10 000 persons were revealed by findings of the analyses, on the additive scale. Overall 1159 additional persons with tooth loss per 10,000 persons were shown among women by the analyses. Differential exposure and differential susceptibility to smoking and alcohol intake were suggested to partially explain the observed social inequality in tooth loss.