Is food insecurity associated with dental caries?

Eight electronic databases including APA PsycINFO, CINAHL, Embase, LILACS, PubMed, Ovid, Scopus and Web of Science were searched from date of inception to November 2021. An updated search was conducted in August 2022. Google Scholar was accessed including Open Grey and ProQuest. Reference lists of the included studies were analysed for potentially eligible studies.

Observational studies (cross-sectional, case-control and cohort) that evaluated the association between dental caries and food insecurity were eligible for analysis. Qualitative studies, reviews and meeting abstracts were excluded. There were no restrictions on language or publication date.

Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts. A third experienced researcher was consulted if there was disagreement. Food insecurity status was the exposure with dental caries the outcome. The authors retrieved effect measures, 95% CI’s and P values where available. Heterogeneity was assessed via I² and R². A total of 514 records were initially identified. Once duplicates were removed, 19 references were assessed in full. The association between food insecurity and dental caries were presented as odds-ratios, relative risks and prevalence ratios with 95% CIs. A random-effects model was fitted to all meta-analyses.

Evaluation identified 14 studies for the qualitative synthesis and 7 studies for the quantitative synthesis. The total sample size for the 14 studies was 150,546 individuals. Quantitative data merged from two studies found food-insecure individuals more prone to dental caries than food-secure individuals (OR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.01–2.60; P = 0.045). In two studies that used binary data to compare food security or insecurity, food insecure individuals were more likely to exhibit dental caries (OR = 1.66; 95% CI, 1.36–2.02; P < 0.0001).

People experiencing food insecurity are more likely to exhibit dental caries than those who have food security.