Child Nutrition Patterns Are Associated with Primary Dentition Dental Caries

Area of Science:

• Oral Health
• Pediatric Dentistry
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Diet is a key modifiable factor in dental caries risk.
• Limited evidence exists on diet's association with distinct clinical patterns of dental caries.
• Understanding these associations can inform targeted preventive strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between child nutrition patterns and two distinct clinical presentations of childhood dental caries.
• To identify specific dietary habits associated with anterior carious lesions versus posterior-only carious lesions.
• To compare dietary patterns of children with caries subtypes to caries-free controls.

Main Methods:

• Latent profile analysis used to define dietary patterns in 120 children (30 with anterior lesions, 30 with posterior-only lesions, 60 controls).
• Participants' guardians completed a 17-item nutrition frequency questionnaire.
• Children's ages ranged from one to 12 years, with matched controls.

Main Results:

• Distinct dietary patterns were identified based on consumption of water, cariogenic foods, and beverages.
• A diet pattern high in fruit juice, cereal bars, and daily vitamins was more prevalent in one- to three-year-olds with anterior carious lesions compared to controls.
• This specific dietary pattern showed a statistically significant association (P<0.05) with anterior caries.

Conclusions:

• Dietary patterns play a crucial role in childhood oral health.
• Specific dietary habits, particularly frequent consumption of fermentable carbohydrates, are linked to distinct clinical subtypes of dental caries.
• Findings highlight the influence of nutrition on the development of specific caries presentations in children.