Association between Sweet Consumption and Oral Health in European Population

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the association between frequency sweet consumption of drink (food) and teeth number, prevalence of dental check-ups and teeth pain in European population. Material and Methods: In this descriptive study, the data was evaluated from Eurobarometer database 72.3. It was involved 30.292 of citizens from EU-27 (European Union) countries in Eurobarometer research. The necessary conditions for the including of European countries in our research were complete information about (i) frequency of sweet consumption (%) in each EU-27 countries, population percentage who has all natural teeth (%) in each EU-27 countries, (iii) prevalence of dental checkups (%) in each EU-27 countries and (iv) frequency teeth pain in each EU-27 countries. Results: The highest proportion of often teeth pain (9.0%) was in Romania. Positive association between often sweet consumption of drink (food) and often teeth pain was found. Negative association between often sweet consumption of drink (food) and inhabitants' percentage who have all natural teeth was found. Negative association between often sweet consumption of drink (food) and prevalence of dental check-ups was observed. Conclusion: Our results about the impact sweet consumption of drink (food) on oral health are applicable in oral health programs. It is necessary to include more world countries (more European citizens) into linear regression model of oral health.