(P26-015-24) The Content of Dietary Advice for Young Adolescents Delivered in Dental Practice for Caries Prevention: A Rapid Scoping Review

Objectives: The prevalence of dental caries is high among adolescents in many countries and this age group has the highest consumption of free sugars. A scoping review of available dietary advice aimed at caries prevention in adolescents in dental practice was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement. The objective was to identify and map type, volume, and content of available dietary advice.

Methods: The Dentistry and Oral Sciences database was searched from 2015 to September 2023. A scoping review of nutrition care practices of oral health professionals published in 2021 (Lieffers J et al Nutrients. 2021.13;13(10):3588), but which did not report the content of the dietary advice, was used to identify relevant papers published between 2015 and 2021. This was supplemented by a MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase search from May 2021 to September 2023. Alongside this, an advanced Google search of 63 relevant professional organizations and 95 dental commercial organizations and practice websites was conducted. Relevant content pertaining to author and year, country, study population, and key content of the dietary/nutrition advice was mapped.

Results: Of 1257 records identified from peer reviewed literature, 30 full papers along with 23 papers from Leiffers et al (2021) underwent independent duplicate screening resulting in 11 included papers. These yielded 23 different items of relevant dietary advice. Most common was to avoid sugars-rich foods/drinks in between meals (5/11), drink water (4/11) and reduce the amount and or frequency of sugars-containing beverages (SCB) (4/11). Of 63 professional organization websites 29 were included yielding 25 different items of dietary advice. Most common was drink water (28/29), drink milk (18/29) and reduce SCB (17/29). Of the 95 commercial websites 90 yielded 20 different items of advice. Most common was drink water 50/90, drink milk (27/90) and limit 100% fruit juice (24/90). Overall, information on limits for sugars consumption ranged from 6 to 18.75 teaspoons/day and from 1 to 4 intakes/day. Definitions of low sugar concentration also varied from 5-15g/100g.

Conclusions: Dietary advice for caries prevention focuses on drinking water, and avoiding SSB and in-between-meal sugars. However, clarity on thresholds for sugars consumption and what constitutes low sugar is required.

Funding Sources: The University of Adelaide