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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Health and Nutrition
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1400591
This article is part of the Research Topic Food Insecurity and Oral Health View all articles

Food insecurity and oral health in older adults

Provisionally accepted
Anwar T. Merchant Anwar T. Merchant 1*Afsaneh Fallahi Afsaneh Fallahi 1Arissa Huda Arissa Huda 2Matthew Lohman Matthew Lohman 1
  • 1 University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States
  • 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Household food insecurity, defined as inconsistent access to sufficient food in a household, affects 1 in 15 individuals over the age of 60 years in the US. In these individuals it is associated with numerous chronic conditions, medication underuse leading to poorly controlled conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, and poor oral health. However, the relationship between food insecurity and oral health is understudied. We therefore evaluated the associations between food insecurity and aspects of oral health in older US adults.We prospectively evaluated a subset of participants of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) who responded to questions evaluating food insecurity in 2013 and a supplemental questionnaire regarding dental health and dental health services in 2018 (N=472).Results: Approximately 1 in 5 people in our study reported being food insecure in the last year.Food insecurity was correlated with poor oral health-related quality of life scores and more tooth loss. Individuals who were food insecure reported worse self-rated oral health (OR=2.67), greater odds of losing 8 or more teeth (OR=2.35), and lower odds of receiving oral care (OR=0.60) compared to their food secure peers.Conclusions: Though individuals experiencing food insecurity were likely to have more unmet oral health needs than their peers, they were less likely to seek dental care. To improve the oral health status of this group, in addition to making oral health care more accessible, it may also be necessary to address the social and environmental factors preventing these people from seeking oral health care.

    Keywords: Food insecurity, Hunger, Oral Health, Quality of Life, Missing teeth

    Received: 13 Mar 2024; Accepted: 09 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Merchant, Fallahi, Huda and Lohman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Anwar T. Merchant, University of South Carolina, Columbia, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.