Oral Health Education · NEBDN certificate
Diet and Nutrition
Free sugars and their sources, frequency and the Stephan curve, dietary acid and erosion, advice by age.
Diet as a cause and as something you can change. The topic covers what counts as a free sugar and where they are actually found, the difference frequency makes rather than quantity alone and the Stephan curve that explains it, dietary acid and its role in erosion and tooth wear, sugar-free medicines, and how a diet assessment is carried out. The advice side runs by age group, from the early years upwards, and a good share of the questions ask you to match advice to the risk identified rather than to recite it.
What this topic covers
These are the sub-topics the app's 35 questions for this topic are grouped into, with the number of questions on each. They are a fair map of where the weight sits.
| Sub-topic | Questions |
|---|---|
| Dietary acid, erosion and tooth wear | 6 |
| Free sugars: definition and sources | 6 |
| EMQ: Drinks and their effect on teeth | 5 |
| EMQ: Preventive advice matched to the risk identified | 5 |
| EMQ: Dietary advice by age group | 4 |
| Frequency, quantity and the Stephan curve | 4 |
| Dietary advice in the early years | 3 |
| Sugar-free medicines and diet assessment | 2 |
Sub-topics beginning “EMQ” are extended matching questions: one stem, one right answer, and a list of up to 10 options to choose it from. They are testing whether you can discriminate between neighbouring answers, not whether you recognise the right one.
Study guide
Diet questions turn on two distinctions that are easy to blur: free sugars versus sugars in general, and frequency versus quantity. Both are counter-intuitive to patients, which is precisely why the assessment tests whether the educator has them straight.
Free sugars: what counts and where they are
A definition question that carries a surprising number of marks.
- Free sugars are a defined category, and not every sugar in a food is one — the boundary cases are the examinable part.
- Familiar foods and drinks fall on either side of the line in ways that surprise patients and, in the exam, candidates.
- Sugar-free medicines exist because of this distinction, and appear as their own small sub-topic.
Frequency, quantity and the Stephan curve
The single most useful concept for explaining diet advice to a patient, and a reliable exam topic.
- The Stephan curve describes the fall and recovery of plaque pH after a sugar intake — its shape is what makes frequency matter.
- Repeated intakes prevent recovery, so how often is more damaging than how much.
- Advice built on this concept targets snacking pattern rather than total sugar alone.
Dietary acid, erosion and tooth wear
A second, separate mechanism that shares a vocabulary with caries and is examined against it.
- Erosion is chemical dissolution by dietary acid with no bacterial step — do not describe it as caries.
- Drinks differ in their erosive potential, and there is an extended matching set built on exactly that.
- Advice for erosion differs from advice for caries, including timing of brushing after an acid intake.
Diet advice and assessment
How advice is gathered and given, by age group.
- A diet assessment collects pattern as well as content, because pattern is what the advice targets.
- Advice in the early years is directed at carers and concerns feeding practice.
- Extended matching questions pair a described risk with the dietary advice that addresses it — read for the mechanism, not the food.
In the exam Two discriminations carry this topic: free sugars versus sugars, and erosion versus caries. Questions often describe a plausible-sounding piece of advice that addresses the wrong mechanism. Identify the mechanism in the stem first, then choose.
This topic's questions are in the app
The free tier does not unlock any of the 35 questions for this topic, so there is no quiz to run here — and publishing one anyway would give away more than the app itself does. The study guide above is free to read in full.
To practise this topic, get the app. Or start with one of the topics that are free here .
For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Carry on with
Caries and Prevention
The caries process, risk assessment and recall, preventive advice by age band, early childhood caries.
Periodontal Health and BPE
BPE codes and the actions they trigger, the disease process, plaque and calculus control, interdental cleaning.
Fluoride and Varnish
Toothpaste concentrations and amounts, varnish, mouthrinse, fluorosis, and water and milk fluoridation.
Revise anywhere, with the whole Radiography & Post-Reg bank
This site publishes the app's free sample — 48 of 780 questions, across 4 of 17 topics. Dental Radiography & Post-Reg carries the full bank offline across all 4 certificates, so you can revise on the bus, between patients, or the night before.
- All 780 questions
- Every question across all 4 certificates, including the 13 topics this site cannot unlock.
- 75-question mock test
- Timed at 90 minutes, drawn from one certificate at a time.
- An explanation every time
- Every answer explains itself and cites where it comes from, right or wrong.
- Progress you can see
- History and per-topic results show which certificates still need the work.
For iPhone, iPad and Android.
