Dietary Practices as a Potential Predictor for Dental Erosion among Patients Having Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: An Analytical Cross-sectional Study

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess how dietary practices impact gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients in Haryana state, India, from the perspective of either preventing or promoting dental erosion. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study was to find a correlation between the presence of dental erosion and dietary practices among patients with GERD. The secondary objective of this study was to assess the correlation between GERD patients’ dietary practices and dental erosion severity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred and thirty study participants, who’ve been 18 years of age or older with the diagnosis of GERD for at least six months or more were included. Evaluation of dental erosion was performed with basic erosive wear examination (BEWE) index. On age, gender, medical history, medication history, and dietary habits, a pretested structured questionnaire was used. Statistical analysis software SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) variant 20.0 was used to conduct the statistical analysis. Analytic statistics and descriptive statistics were used in the data analysis. RESULTS: Dental erosion was present in 84.8% of the study participants. The majority of study participants, 122 (37%), had no risk of dental erosion. The occurrence of dental erosion was shown to be substantially adversely associated to the intake of acidic meals and soft drinks in the present investigation (odds ratio [OR] = 0.5, P < 0.05). There has not been any proven link between the severity of dental erosion and the frequency of consuming acidic meals, fruit juice, and soft drinks. Milk consumption frequency and dental erosion severity were observed to be considerably inversely associated (r = –0.1, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Patients with GERD frequently experienced dental erosion. One probable risk factor for the development of erosive dental lesions can be considered GERD. Most of the patients had dental erosion with a low degree of severity. When dental erosion occurs, the mineral quantity that dissolves from enamel is influenced by several factors, including the buffering action of the acids, pH, and duration of exposure. Whereas if the food and drinks contain adequate amounts of fluoride, calcium, and phosphate, the dissolution can be prevented. The intake of fruit juice, acidic foods, as well as soft drinks was not consumed to be a risk factor in the current study for directly causing or for promoting the severity of dental erosion since they were consumed less frequently. A higher frequency of milk ingestion was found to reduce the severity of dental erosion. Regular milk consumption could be regarded as an alternative dietary practice to stop dental erosion. As dental erosion is a complex condition, it’s essential to have an early diagnosis and implement the proper preventive measures. It is vital to inform people about dental erosion and how it is interrelated to GERD and dietary practices.