Children's Oral Health and Nutritional Intake in Rural Brazil

Objectives: To explore whether there is a relationship between oral health (number of permanent teeth with decay and number of restorations) and nutritional intake in elementary school children in rural Brazil.

Methods: Data were collected from 398 children (47.4% male; average age = 9.05 years; age range = 6-13 years) in three elementary schools in rural Brazil. The children participated in school based oral health screenings. Information about their nutritional intake at breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner was collected for 7 days in the form of a nutritional diary.

Results: The children had on average 2.9 restored permanent teeth (SD = 2.64) and untreated decay in 2.6 permanent teeth (SD = 2.32). They differed significantly in the types of food they consumed such as in the number of times per week they ate meat (range: 0 to 28 times in a week), sugar (0 to 28 times per week), or cakes (0 to 16 times per week). Their oral health status was correlated with their nutritional intake: The more decayed permanent teeth the children had, the less often they consumed meat and fish (r=-.13; p=.013), and the more often they consumed coffee (r=.11; p=.035), salty cakes (r=.11; p=.038), and sugar (r=.12; p=.024). The more filled teeth they had, the more frequently they consumed sugar (r=.11; p==.028), sweet cakes (r=.10; p=.047), coffee (r=.09; p=.08), salty cakes (r=.09; p=.08) and pasta (r=.094; p=.07), and the less often they consumed meat (r=-.14; p=.007).

Conclusions: Oral health in rural Brazilian children is correlated with the type of food they consume. These findings point to the significance of gaining a better understanding of the role of nutrition for children's oral health and should be used in educational programs to inform parents about the relationship between the types of food consumed and children's oral health.