Abstract
Purpose The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between intake of sweets (sweet drinks/candies of chewing gum) and oral health status, while adjusting for age and other dental health behavior.
Methods The data used were based on a cross-sectional study regarding dental checkup of a worksite. Of a total of 7,713 workers, 5,232(67.8%) participated in the dental checkup. From this population, data for only 5,034 were analyzed. The dental checkup included a self-reported questionnaire and oral examination by a dentist. The oral health status variables were the CPITN score, missing teeth/filled teeth/decayed teeth, and self-reported gum bleeding. We used multiple logistic regression to calculate odds ration (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) for each oral health status according to intake of sweets.
Results Among males, subjects who took sweet drinks almost every day, compared to subjects who hardly took, had higher risk of missing teeth (OR=1.4; 95% CI: 1.2-1.7), filled teeth (OR=1.7; 95% CI: 1.4-2.0) and gum bleeding (OR=1.5; 95% CI: 1.2-1.8). Dose response relationships were also observed between intake of sweet drinks and these variables. No significant association was recognized between intake of candies of chewing gum and oral health status.
Conclusions The results indicated that intake of sweet drinks is a daterminant of oral health status, independent of dental health behavior, particularly among males.
