PR156 – Dietary intake in relation to oral health in adults with severe periodontitis

Background & Aim: Periodontitis is a chronic disease which can result in progressive loss of the teeth's supportive tissue. About 40% of the world's population is affected by periodontitis of which approximately 10% have a severe form. Periodontitis can affect the dietary intake for diseased individuals due to mobile teeth that making it painful to eat or by missing teeth. The aim of the study was to investigate self-assessed oral health in relation to dietary intake in adult individuals with severe periodontitis treated in specialist-dental care. The aim was also to study self-assessed oral health and dietary intake in relation to the number of teeth, age and sex. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study including 62 participants. The material was collected via questionnaires regarding background and the areas of oral health and dietary intake. Participants were recruited via a special-dental care clinic in Sweden during September 2017. Referred patients diagnosed with severe periodontitis were invited to participate in the study and the participation was confidential. Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and Mann Whitney U test were used. Alpha was set at p<0.05. Results: Half of the participants reported that their oral health condition constituted an obstacle to eating the foods they wanted. Participants who had ≥20 teeth ate fruits and berries, red meat, fish and poultry more often than participants with fewer teeth. Participants with ≤19 teeth assessed their chewing and biting ability as poorer than individuals with ≥20 teeth. Conclusion: The result shows that a large proportion of the participants with periodontitis experience that their oral health affects dietary intake . Multidisciplinary collaboration between dental care and dietitian clinic could increase the ability to prevent and/or treat further ill-health in individuals with periodontitis that adversely affects the energy and nutritional intake due to oral health condition. Disclosure: No significant relationships