Dietary questions in caries risk assessment and their relationship to caries.

Objective: This retrospective chart review evaluated the relationship between specific dietary questions used in caries risk assessment and planned restorative treatment among patients attending a dental school's clinic.

Methods: Records for 6,218 adult patients attending the University of Iowa College of Dentistry who completed caries risk assessments and comprehensive oral examinations during 2018-2019 were included. The number of planned caries restorative treatments were compared between groups based on responses to specific dietary questions on the caries risk assessment. Analyses included chi-square and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and logistic regression for factors associated with caries treatments.

Results: About 20% of subjects needed caries treatment, and regression analyses found that younger age, having unstructured meals, drinking sugared beverages daily, and drinking them for more than 30 min were significantly (p < 0.01) associated with having caries.

Conclusions: Specific and focused questions on dietary practices are strongly associated with caries, and may be useful in improving caries risk assessments.