Nutrition, diet and dental public health

Nutrition and diet can affect teeth in three ways: by affecting the structure of teeth (and thus appearance), by causing dental caries and by eroding teeth. The importance of dietary sugars in causing dental caries is clearly established and a reduction in consumption of non-milk extrinsic sugars recommended by government. The Health Education Authority has played a major role in promoting this aspect of dietary advice. The structure of teeth is influenced by nutrition; much of the evidence for this being published by Mellanby and colleagues in this country. Interest in this topic has increased recently and it seems probable that malnutrition enhances susceptibility to dental caries, and possible that it increases susceptibility to enamel defects especially in areas with moderate to high levels of fluoride ingestion. The prevalence and severity of dental erosion is likely to be increasing in Britain. Preliminary studies indicated that fluoride helps to protect teeth against erosion, but more research is needed.