Nutritional status has a profound effect on general and oral health. A sugar-rich diet is associated with obesity and dental caries. Obesity and dental caries are both common childhood diseases that can have an impact on the overall development of children.The relationship between nutritional status, diet and dental caries is complex. The study aimed to assess the association of nutritional status, diet and dental caries among 12-15 year old schoolchildren. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 240 school children aged 12-15 years in Bangalore city. Dietary habits were recorded using food frequency questionnaire. Nutritional status and caries were assessed using Body Mass Index (BMI) and WHO caries criteria respectively. Chi Square test, unpaired t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman’s correlation and linear regression were applied. Majority of the study participants belonged to underweight category, Mean BMI, FFQ and DMFT were found to be 15.61±3.53, 2.68±3.18 and 2.62±3.4 respectively. Sugar consumption was more in the obese and overweight category. Highly significant positive correlation was found between diet and dental caries (ρ = 0.689, p<0.001). In a linear regression, diet showed a highly significant association with dental caries (β = 0.71, p<0.001). There was no association between nutritional status and dental caries. There is an association between diet and dental caries. However, nutritional status was not associated with either diet or dental caries.
