Association Between Eating Attitudes and Dental Caries Experience in Young Adults Attending a Private Dental Practice: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background/objectives: Eating attitudes may be linked to oral health through behavioral and lifestyle mechanisms, but data on young adults remain limited. The primary objective was to assess the association between dietary attitudes and caries experience in young adults recruited from a private dental practice. Secondary analyses examined the psychometric properties of the EAT-40 and the relationships of its scores with BMI, oral health behaviors, and lifestyle factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study included 366 adults aged 18-25 years recruited by convenience sampling from a private dental practice in Iași. Eating attitudes were assessed using the EAT-40, oral health behaviors using the HU-DBI, and caries experience using the DMFT and DMFS indices. BMI was calculated based on self-reported weight and height. Exploratory factor analysis, Spearman correlations, negative binomial regression, and multiple linear regression were used.

Results: The EAT-40 showed good internal consistency (α = 0.887), and the three-factor solution explained 36.6% of the variance. The total EAT-40 score showed weak positive correlations with DMFT and DMFS (ρ = 0.146; p = 0.005 for both), but was not significantly associated with DMFS in the fully adjusted model (IRR = 1.003; 95% CI: 0.997-1.010; p = 0.293) or in the sensitivity analysis (IRR = 1.005; 95% CI: 0.999-1.012; p = 0.122). None of the three EAT-40 dimensions was significantly associated with DMFS after adjustment. The total EAT-40 score was not significantly associated with BMI. Daily smoking was associated with higher DMFS values, whereas occasional smoking was not.

Conclusions: In the study sample, EAT-40 scores were weakly associated with caries experience, but not independently with BMI. The results regarding EAT-40 dimensions remain exploratory, and the cross-sectional design does not allow for causal conclusions.