Influence of changing dentition on food texture preferences and perception of eating difficulty in Australian children

• Published in: Journal of texture studies 2024-08, Vol.55 (4), p.e12856-n/a
• Main Authors: Chow, Ching Yue, Bech, Anne C., Olsen, Annemarie, Keast, Russell, Russell, Catherine G., Bredie, Wender L. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Australia; cakes; Cheddar cheese; Cheese; Child; Child, Preschool; children; Chocolate; Dentition; Eating; eating difficulty; Feeding Behavior; Female; food acceptability; Food Preferences; food texture; hardness; Humans; Male; preference; probability; questionnaires; sensory evaluation; Snacks; Surveys and Questionnaires; Taste; teeth; texture; Tooth, Deciduous
• ISSN: 0022-4901; 1745-4603; 1745-4603
• DOI: 10.1111/jtxs.12856

The transition from primary to permanent dentition is an important phase in children's oral development, yet its impact on texture perception and food acceptance are less explored. This study aimed to investigate how changing dentition and tooth loss influence texture preferences and perception of eating difficulty among children aged 5 to 12 years. Children (n = 475) completed a forced‐choice questionnaire featuring drawings of six food pairs, each available in hard or soft texture, and reported whether they had started losing primary teeth and the number of tooth gaps present. They also tasted four samples: chocolate snacks (cake and biscuits) and cheddar cheese (grated and cubes), evaluating their perceived eating difficulty and liking for each sample. Analysis of questionnaire responses showed a general preference for softer food textures among children, with a 36% probability of choosing hard foods. Preferences were not related to child's dental state, including primary teeth loss (p = .13) or number of tooth gaps (p = .45). In the taste test, chocolate biscuits and cheese cubes were perceived as significantly more difficult to eat than chocolate cake and grated cheese, respectively (both p