Analysis of Dental Health Influencing Food Intake

Abstract

In order for people to be able to enjoy eating throughout their life-time, keeping their mouth and teeth always clean is of basic importance. In the present study, aimed at working out a program for providing oral health education effectively to adults with few missing teeth, we examined the effects of oral conditions on food intake in a total of 1,407 company employees of both sexes under 60 years of age after conducting a dental examination and a food intake survey. A multivariate analysis of the results was performed using Hayashi's quantification method II . A summary of the findings is as follows : 1. The main results of the food intake survey showed that the ratio of the difficult-to-chew food (-) group was about 85% in both sexes and that this ratio tended to decrease among the subjects aged 40 and above. 2. In the difficult-to-chew food (+) group, only one food item was cited as being hard to chew by the 60% of the men and 71% of the women. 3. A screening level was determined in accordance with the index for the intraoral condition : 3 for the number of decayed teeth ; 2 for the number of missing teeth ; 3 for CPITN code ; and 80-90% for the masticatory index. 4. Hayashi's quantification II analysis revealed that, from the size of the range, food intake was affected most when the CPITN code reached the maximum. Thus, in the subjects with relatively few missing teeth, it can be said that periodontal tissue conditions affect food intake to the greatest extent, suggesting the importance of oral health education and the prevention of periodontal disease.