Dental Professionals Perceptions of Sugar Consumption and Obesity Advice in the Dental Practice

Objectives: The incidence of obesity is rising despite international initiatives. The WHO has challenged all health care providers to contribute to efforts targeting increased awareness of healthy weight dietary choices amongst their patients. The aim of this study was to explore dental professionals’ perceptions of extending advice given to patients on sugar consumption and oral health to include overweight/obesity information.
Methods: This study was a cross-sectional international questionnaire survey of dental professionals working in practice. The questionnaire was developed using existing validated questionnaires that covered the following domains: willingness and confidence, knowledge of the association between obesity/sugar consumption and oral health, self-evaluated abilities on screening and giving advice in regards to sugary consumption and obesity, and potential barriers to providing advice. Data was collected between April and August 2016.
Results: 245 dental professionals (age range 20-65 years) consisting of 79.6% females and 20.4% males completed the survey. Results showed the majority of dental professionals (75.3%) would be willing to give advice on obesity/overweight if a relationship between obesity /overweight and oral health was found. Significant misconceptions in their knowledge about obesity as a disease and its relationships to oral health were evident. Although 88.3 % of the dental professionals are already providing counselling over other oral and/or general health matters, only less than 30% would start a conversation with their patients addressing sugar consumption and obesity. The lack of training and understanding of obesity as a disease was highlighted as a potential barrier to providing advice.
Conclusions: Although dental professionals showed willingness to expand sugar consumption counseling beyond oral health messages, confidence is lacking. Further training is indicated to understand the association between sugar consumption, overweight/obesity and/or their association with oral or general health.