Food Insecurity and Dental Caries in Rural Mexican Populations Article Swipe

PDF

Related Concepts

Food insecurity Latin Americans Environmental health Food security Oral health Medicine Rural area Population Government (linguistics) Scale (ratio) Rural population Public health Geography Demography Dentistry Political science Agriculture Nursing Pathology Linguistics Sociology Archaeology Cartography Law Philosophy

César I. Romo-Sáenz , Erika Marlene Chavez-Reyes , Ricardo Gomez‐Flores , María Norma González-Flores , Ricardo Sosa-Martínez , Norma Cruz Fierro , José Elizondo-Elizondo , Myriam Angélica De la Garza-Ramos ·

YOU? · · 2023 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2560942/v1 · OA: W4321367610

Objectives Food insecurity (FI) is a priority for government and health organizations. Over 95% of the world's population has a carious lesion or will develop one before death. This study evaluated the association between FI and oral health in two rural communities in Chiapas, Mexico. Materials and methods The study was conducted with patients attending an oral health campaign for dental check-ups. Data were collected between April and August of 2017 using the Latin-American and Caribbean Scale of Food Security (ELCSA) and the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS). We included 209 participants from the communities of Siltepec and Huehuetan, Mexico; 67% were women. Results The results of the ELCSA were mild FI in 43% (n = 91), moderate FI in 22% (n = 45), and severe FI (n = 6) in 3%; 32% had food security. The ICDAS results were initial decay with a mean of 6.22, moderate decay with a mean of 1.81, and extensive decay with a mean of 1.77. Conclusions In this study, the FI level was lower than in other rural populations in Mexico. The level of dental caries found was expected for this population. Clinical Relevance Food insecurity is associated with dental caries. Food insecure individuals have a higher probability of severe dental caries. Identifying these individuals and addressing the factors related to food insecurity can be useful in rural communities.