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-Santé 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.
Keywords: diet quality; dietary guidelines; oral health; public health.