The Impact of Lifestyles on Dental Caries of Adult Patients in Udupi District: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

A BSTRACT Background: Dental caries is preventable if favorable health behavior is successfully established. Exploring the broader concept of lifestyle will be useful to determine that how lifestyle of people can affect dental caries. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of overall lifestyle of an individual (analyzed using health practice index) on dental caries of adult population. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study comprising structured questions on health practice index, sociodemographic variables, and oral health-related behavior was conducted on 800 study subjects of age 20–50 years attending outreach dental setups of a dental school in India. Dental caries was recorded with decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index. Statistical analysis was carried out using frequency distribution for variables related to lifestyle, mean ± standard deviation for DMFT, and negative binomial regression to predict a dependent variable (DMFT) that consisted of “count data.” Results: The study subjects who were older age, women, unemployed, and unskilled; those with lower education, lesser income, and lower socioeconomic status; those never visited dentist; and those with lesser frequency of cleaning teeth, overall poorer lifestyles, and moderate lifestyles were more prone to have dental caries than their counterparts. Conclusion: Dental caries is a multifactorial disease. Patients’ involvement in self-care by promoting healthy behaviors such as brushing twice a day, visiting dentist regularly, negating orally abusive substance addiction, having breakfast every day, eating a balanced diet, and reducing stress leads to an overall good lifestyle. These factors along with sleeping a minimum of 7–8h per night and working for 8–9h per day and ample daily exercise may help patients improve or protect their oral health for years to come.

Territorial Disparities in Dental Care for Disabled Persons and Oral Health-Related Indicators: A Population-Level Approach in Brazil’s Public Healthcare System from 2014 to 2023

“…Likewise, not visiting a dentist to address oral health issues has been associated with a higher propensity for oral diseases, such as dental caries [32]. In addition, it has also been demonstrated that there is association between tooth loss and OHRQoL, which is lower in individuals who have experienced more tooth loss over time [25].…”

Estilo de vida y su impacto en la situación de salud general y bucal del adulto mayor de la Casa del adulto mayor de Chorrillos

“…Singla N et al (23) halló en un estudio realizado en 800 sujetos con edades entre 20 y 50 años, que los participantes con nivel económico más bajo, de mayor edad, desempleados, de sexo femenino, con menor educación, menor frecuencia de cepillado dental, estilo de vida pobre o moderado, tienen mayor riesgo de tener caries dental. En este estudio se encontró que la mayoría de los participantes tenían un estilo de vida poco saludable y un CPOD muy alto, sin embargo no se halló asociación estadística entre el estilo de vida y la presencia de caries dental.…”

Understanding dental caries as a non-communicable and behavioral disease: Management implications

“…Another factor related with dental caries and behavioral factors is the provision of dental care. Regular dental checkups have shown as important to maintain good oral health [ 69 ]. Thus, caries management at the individual level, should include dietary counseling with sugars intake restriction, biofilm control and periodic checkups according to risk to promote oral and systemic health.…”