Adherence to National Dietary Guidelines in Association with Oral Health Impact on Quality of Life

We aimed to assess the association between oral health, in terms of its impact on quality of life, and diet quality expressed as adherence to dietary guidelines. We analyzed cross-sectional data from the French NutriNet-Sante general population-based e-cohort (N = 18,263 adults; mean age = 56.5 +/- 13.8 years). The main independent variable, oral health-related quality of life, was assessed in 2016 with the GOHAI instrument (maximum score = 60). The main dependent variable, diet's nutritional quality, was assessed with the mPNNS-GS score (maximum score = 13.5) measuring adherence to French dietary guidelines and computed on the basis of repeated 24-h dietary records. Multivariable linear regression models were fit. Mean GOHAI score was 54.5 +/- 4.3 and mean mPNNS-GS score was 7.7 +/- 1.6. Among participants aged 18-64 years, those scoring 50 on GOHAI (poor oral health with a detrimental impact on quality of life) were less likely to adhere to dietary guidelines than participants scoring 57-60 points (good oral health) (beta = -0.18, 95% CI: -0.26, -0.09; p < 0.0001). Among participants aged 65+ years, those scoring 51-56 points on GOHAI (average oral health with some negative impact on quality of life) were less likely to adhere to dietary guidelines than were participants scoring in the range 57-60 (beta = -0.23, 95% CI: -0.33, -0.13; p < 0.0001). The findings suggested modest age-dependent associations between oral health-related quality of life and diet quality. Confirmation is needed longitudinally with representative samples and accounting for diet quality evolution.