Development of a Nutrition Questionnaire for Dental Caries Risk Factors

Background: Few existing tools quickly identify dietary behaviours related to dental caries. The objectives of this study were to (i) create a patient-generated questionnaire identifying these dietary behaviours, (ii) capture information on these dietary behaviours in two specific populations via questionnaire pilot testing and (iii) determine questionnaire test-retest reliability.

Methods: After development, the questionnaire was reviewed by an expert panel. Cognitive interviewing was conducted, followed by pilot testing in a general university campus population (n = 80) and a university dental clinic (n = 10). Retesting was done with the general campus group (n = 53).

Results: Most participants reported never receiving dietary advice from professionals regarding caries. Sugary foods were most often consumed as snacks in the evening or afternoon, then breakfast. In total, 41.3% of campus participants consumed high risk items at least a few times per week or more often. Weekly or more frequent consumption of "other" sugary drinks (e.g., iced tea) was common. In total, 77.6% of questionnaire items had a kappa value representing moderate agreement or greater.

Conclusions: Dietary behaviours related to caries were common in this pilot study. Given the high prevalence of caries and low occurrence of prior dietary advice for the same, increased preventive efforts may be warranted.