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Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Functional Tooth Units, Oral Disease Status and Dietary Quality in a Representative US Population
Yu Xie1,2, Mengning Bi1,2, Xiaoyu Yu1,2
1Shanghai PerioImplant Innovation Center and Oral Biomedical Intelligence Technology (ORAL-BIT) Laboratory, Institute for Oral, Craniofacial and Sensory Research, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Journal of Clinical Periodontology
|July 13, 2026
Summary
Adequate functional tooth units (FTUs) are linked to better dietary quality. Impaired oral health, including caries and periodontitis, is associated with poorer nutrition, though sociodemographic factors play a larger role.
Area of Science:
- Oral Health
- Nutrition Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Dietary quality significantly impacts overall health and disease risk.
- Oral health, encompassing dentition and disease status, may influence dietary choices and intake.
- Understanding the interplay between oral conditions and diet is crucial for targeted health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between functional tooth units (FTUs) and oral conditions with dietary quality.
- To utilize a unified analytic framework incorporating multidimensional measures of oral health and diet.
- To identify specific oral health indicators linked to suboptimal dietary patterns.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from 6291 US adults (2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey).
- Assessment of dentition using FTUs and tooth count; oral disease status based on untreated caries and periodontitis.
- Evaluation of dietary quality using Healthy Eating Index-2020 (HEI-2020), DASH, alternate Mediterranean diet score (MED), and Dietary Inflammation Index (DII).
Main Results:
- Individuals with adequate FTUs exhibited higher dietary quality compared to those with impaired FTUs or edentulous participants.
- Each additional FTU correlated with improved HEI-2020 scores, lower DII scores, and greater food item diversity.
- Untreated caries status was linked to less favorable dietary profiles, with Decay% showing a significant association with added sugar intake.
Conclusions:
- Distinct oral conditions are associated with varying levels of dietary quality.
- Impaired FTUs and coexisting caries and periodontitis are linked to poorer dietary intake.
- Oral health status can help identify individuals at risk for poor nutrition, but sociodemographic factors are stronger predictors of dietary variation.
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