Relationship between dietary intake and dentition in the elderly

Objectives: To analyse the relationship between dental state and the intake of energy and different macronutrients in 70-year-olds during 1971-2000. Methods: Data from 4 different 70-year-old cohorts including 612 women and 532 men, examined in 1971-72, 1981-81, 1992-93 and 2000-01 was used (The H 70 study). The intake was recorded using the diet history method and analysed regarding energy and nutrients using PC-Kost from the Swedish National Food Administration. Number of teeth, Eichner Index (EI; measuring contacts in the dentition, 1-10 were 1 is full dentition with contact overall and 10 is no remaining teeth) and number of teeth with caries were recorded during an oral examination including x-rays. Further data was recorded during the medical examination. Results: When controlling for gender and cohort, the EI was more closely related to the intake of nutrients than number of teeth. It was significantly related to the intake of energy and to 7 of 10 macronutrients. Afterincluding for length, education, smoking habits, BMI and subjective health as controlling variables, the EI was still positively correlated to the intake of energy, saturated fatty acids, mono-unsaturated fatty acids, sucrose and lactose and negatively correlated to the intake of dietary fibre. There were no significant relationship between diet and present caries. Conclusion: There were several links between dental state and the intake of macronutrients. The ability to chew seems to be the major explaining factor as EI was the variable most strongly related to the diet.