Effect of dietary patterns on dental caries among 12–15 years-old adolescents: a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: Several factors can influence the risk of dental caries, among which dietary factors have a significance impact on the occurrence of dental caries. The limitation of current studies is that they only focus on the influence of individual foods on the risk of dental caries. This study use cluster analysis to examine the relationship between dietary patterns and dental caries experience among adolescents aged 12–15. METHODS: Based on data from the first oral epidemic survey in Shanxi Province, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 11,351 adolescents aged 12–15 in Shanxi Province through oral examination and questionnaires. The questionnaire included the intake frequency of seven types of food. Descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and multinomial logistic regression were used to analyze the association between dietary patterns and dental caries experience. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of caries was 44.57% and the mean DMFT score was 0.98 ± 1.49 in adolescents aged 12–15 in Shanxi Province. The caries rate was higher in females than males (X(2) = 103.59, P < 0.001). Adolescents who grow up in one-child families have a lower caries risk than those who grow up in families with more than one child (OR:0.91; 95%CI:0.84–0.97). The dietary patterns of adolescents aged 12–15 can be divided into eight types, among which refreshments-rich diet (OR:1.47; 95%CI,1.22–1.77) can increase the risk of caries, while the coarse-grains-rich dietery pattern (OR:0.90; 95%CI, 0.79–0.97) has a lower caries risk. CONCLUSIONS: Social determinants of health such as sex, family size and dietary patterns influence the risk of dental caries. Certain dietary patterns could increase or decrease the risk of caries. The government, school canteens and news media should take dietary pattern factors seriously. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-023-03566-y.