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Community and Public Health Nutrition (Poster Session)

(P20-086-24) Associations Between Food Security Status and Tooth Loss in Adults

Monday, July 1, 2024
11:45 AM – 12:45 PM CT
Location: Poster Board 576
Disclosure(s):
Hamed Samavat, PhD, RD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to explore associations between food security status and dentition status (number of remaining teeth and functional dentition status) in adults seen in a dental school clinic. Associations between dentition status and other relevant sociodemographic characteristics were also explored.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional secondary analysis of data obtained from the electronic health records of adults 18-89 years of age who sought dental care between July 1, 2016 and June 1, 2023 at an urban northeast US dental school’s clinic. Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney U test, Fisher’s exact test, and chi-square tests were used to analyze data.

Results: Patients with available data (N=10,940) were 55.7% female, 48.4% White, 43.8% African American, and 39.0% Hispanic/Latino. The median (IQR) age was 54.0 (39.0-64.0) years; 69.3% were overweight or obese. Participants had a median (IQR) of 24.0 (19.0-27.0) teeth and 70.1% had functional dentition (21 or more teeth). Neither the number of teeth nor functional dentition were associated with food security status. However, other sociodemographic factors, including being older, being overweight and obese, not being of the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, and being of the Black race were significantly associated with having fewer teeth and lack of functional dentition when compared to those who were younger, had a normal BMI, were Hispanic/Latino, White, or Asian (all P values < 0.01).

Conclusions: Older age, having a higher BMI, not being of the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, and being of the Black race, were each significantly associated with having fewer teeth and a lack of functional dentition. Although food security status was not associated with dentition status in this study, future research can explore these associations in those with these sociodemographic characteristics who are most vulnerable to tooth loss and food insecurity.

Funding Sources: No funding sources to disclose.