Consumption frequency of added sugars and UK children's dental caries

Objectives: To examine the association between consumption frequency of foods and drinks with added sugar and dental caries experience in the permanent teeth of 12‐ and 15‐year‐old children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, using the Children's Dental Health Survey 2013 (CDHS) data.

Methods: Four thousand nine hundred and fifty children aged 12 and 15 have the following information available: daily consumption frequency of foods and drinks with added sugar, tooth‐brushing frequency, dental attendance, and water‐drinking frequency. The children's dental caries experience was available as a DMFT score (number of decayed, missing, filled permanent teeth). A zero‐inflated negative binomial model (ZINB) was used to fit the DMFT score.

Results: Lower socioeconomic status (SES), nonregular dental check‐ups, and low water‐drinking frequency were associated with higher consumption frequency of added sugar (all P < 0.05). The consumption frequency of both drinks and foods with added sugar also differed by region (P < 0.001), and children who more frequently consumed foods with added sugars also consumed drinks with added sugars more often (P < 0.001). Using the Zero‐Inflated Negative Binomial model, DMFT scores were not associated with consumption frequency of added sugars for children with caries (DMFT > 0), but the chance of being free of obvious caries (DMFT = 0) was lower for children with high frequency (≥4) of sugar‐added foods than for children reported to have a sugar‐free diet (OR = 0.5, 95% CI [0.3, 0.8]).

Conclusions: Consumption frequency of added sugars was associated with dental caries and a number of child demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Children who consume foods and drinks with added sugar more frequently are more likely to develop dental caries, but higher consumption frequency of drinking water in fluoridated areas might reduce dental caries. The findings add to the evidence for the association between children's dental caries and added sugar consumption.