Nutrition and oral health

The World Health Organization (WHO) (2014) reports that ‘Today the world faces two kinds of malnutrition, one associated with hunger or nutritional deficiency and the other with dietary excess.’ They continue, ‘diet and nutrition affects oral health in many ways. Nutrition, for example, influences craniofacial development, oral cancer and oral infectious diseases. Dental diseases related to diet include dental caries, developmental defects of enamel, dental erosion and periodontal disease’. Moynihan (2005) expands further, stating developmental defects of the enamel can in turn increase the susceptibility to dental caries. She highlights that quality of life can be impaired by dental disease by having ‘a negative impact on self-esteem, eating ability and health, causing pain, anxiety and impaired social functioning. Tooth loss reduces the ability to eat a nutritious diet, the enjoyment of food and confidence to socialise’.