ArticleClinical oral investigations2021
Is dietary pattern a mediator of the relationship between socioeconomic status and dental caries?
Article in Clinical oral investigations, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Socio-Economic Differences in the Oral Health of Irish Adolescents: The Potential Role of Behavioural, Material and Psychosocial Factors.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2026Article
- Pathways from socioeconomic inequalities to dental caries disparities: oral health literacy versus behaviors in 35- to 44-year-old adults in Guangdong, China.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- Validity and reliability of the Spanish version of the Dental Impact on Daily Living (Sp-DIDL) questionnaire in a Spanish population: a cross-sectional study.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- Construction and validation of an oral frailty risk prediction model for community-dwelling older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Frequent Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption, Dental Caries, and the Federal Poverty Level in Children 1-18 Years, NHANES 2015-2020.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2025Article
- Associations of adverse childhood experiences with dental fear, and the mediating role of dental fear on caries experience: the Young-HUNT4 Survey.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Bridging oral health and nutrition: Assessing produce prescription programs in pediatric dental clinics serving low-income communities.Journal of public health dentistry · 2024Article
- Personalizing Nutrition Strategies: Bridging Research and Public Health.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Cross-Cultural Validity of a Dietary Questionnaire for Studying Dental Caries in Japanese Children.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The Assessment of Early Server Childhood Caries Status in Abandoned Institutionalized Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- A Cross-Talk between Diet and the Oral Microbiome: Balance of Nutrition on Inflammation and Immune System's Response during Periodontitis.Nutrients · 2022Review
- On the Pathogenicity of the Oral Biofilm: A Critical Review from a Biological, Evolutionary, and Nutritional Point of View.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Nomogram prediction of caries risk among schoolchildren age 7 years based on a cohort study in Shanghai.The Journal of international medical research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate whether a healthy diet and added sugar mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and oral health status in adults.
methodsThis is a secondary cross-sectional analysis of adult participants from the 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the United States (n=3367). Structural equation modeling tested direct and indirect pathways from a latent variable for socioeconomic status to oral health via healthy eating (Health Eating Index) and added sugar in a multiple-mediator multiple-outcome model.
resultsAdded sugar was directly associated with untreated dental caries [Standardized coefficient (SC)=0.10], and healthy eating was directly associated with both untreated dental caries (SC=-0.11) and tooth loss (SC=-0.05). Higher socioeconomic status was associated with lower untreated dental caries through direct (SC =-0.246) and small indirect paths via healthy diet (SC= -0.026), lower consumption of added sugar (SC=-0.007), and dental visits (SC=-0.162). Higher socioeconomic status was associated with fewer teeth lost through direct (SC =-0.306) and very small indirect paths via healthy diet (SC=-0.016), added sugar consumption (SC=-0.001), and untreated dental caries (SC=-0.094).
conclusionsBoth socioeconomic status and dietary pattern independently contributed to tooth loss and dental caries. The contribution of dietary factors as a mediator to socioeconomic inequities in oral health was small, and statistically significant. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A systems approach to socioeconomic inequities in oral health takes into account the complex relationships between socioeconomics, dietary patterns, oral health and health. Socioeconomic conditions and nutrition, as common risk factors to noncommunicable disorders, should be tackled in programs to improve oral health.
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