About this Research Topic

Background

Daily food choices have an impact on human health. Good nutrition enables the body to function properly. People with healthy eating patterns tend to live longer and are less likely to develop serious illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some cancers. A balanced diet and healthy lifestyle can also help to prevent oral diseases, such as dental caries, gingivitis, periodontal disease, and oral cancer. For example, consuming a diet low in free sugars such as dietary sucrose, glucose, and lactose can help to reduce caries.

If on one hand nutrition influences oral health, on the other hand tooth decay and dental losses can increase the risk of poor overall wellbeing. Poor oral health can lead to limited masticatory function and increase the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, particularly in the elderly population.

As a whole, oral biology has a major importance in nutrition field. Oral tissue and taste receptor function have a direct influence on sensory abilities, impacting food acceptance and choices, and consequently nutrition. As well, there is growing evidence of the vital role played by saliva in maintaining oral health, helping to build and maintain the health of soft and hard tissues, mastication, taste and textural perception, swallowing, and initial digestion. In recent years, evidence to support the association between saliva and oral food perception has increased, highlighting the importance of considering it in nutritional studies.

If all these aspects are of relevance in a healthy condition, it is important to keep in mind that aging and different diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, can result in changes in oral health and in food choices and nutritional intake.

This Research Topic aims to gather high quality original research, highlighting the importance of the food choices and nutrition on oral health. Systematic Reviews, Scoping Reviews and Meta-analysis are also welcomed. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Developmental oral biology
• The significance of nutrition to oral health
• The oral sensory system and food choices
• Nutritional factors in the etiology of oral pathology
• Applied nutrition in oral hygiene
• Nutrient interactions in oral health and disease
• Diet and dental caries
• The impact of nutrition on periodontal disease
• Saliva and oral health
• Saliva, food choices and nutrition
• Masticatory function, food choices and nutrition
• Nutritional education and oral health

Keywords: Food choices, Diet, Nutrition, Oral biology, Oral health

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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