Oral health-related patterns of food selectivity among French adults

Abstract

Background and aims

Food selectivity has been poorly evaluated in dental clinical populations. The frequency of oral health-related food selectivity (i.e. avoiding at least one food item due to oral discomfort) may be underestimated in adult patients with oral health needs. The present study aimed to assess food selectivity in dental and non-dental populations aged 35–65 years.

Methods

The food selective behavior of dental patients recruited in a clinic (n=63) and non-dental participants recruited within the general population (n=62) was assessed by using a food selectivity questionnaire based on traditional French dishes. Food selectivity scores, their reason-why and oral characteristics were collected and submitted to a principal component analysis and a cluster analysis to identify clusters among this population. Significance levels were set at p < 0.05.

Results

Thirty participants (24.0% of the study sample, with respectively 7 within the non-dental group and 23 within the dental group (X²=10.42, p˂0.05) reported avoiding at least one food product because of oral discomfort. Thus 11.1% of non-dental participants and 37.1% of dental patients reported oral discomfort-related food selectivity. The clustering analysis showed three patterns of food selectivity within the sample study. Among them, a cluster representing 9.6% of the sample presented the highest food selectivity (mean±SD=16.3±5.3 avoided foods) and oral discomfort-related food selectivity scores (mean±SD=11.7±5.0 avoided foods), and included dental patients with high periodontal index, high DMFT index, low teeth and OFUs numbers.

Conclusion

These findings indicate that oral-discomfort related food selectivity is increased in dental patients. They suggest the need of integrated care including food intake assessment and diet advice when treating oral disease and poor oral conditions.