Association between caries, obesity and insulin resistance in Mexican adolescents

To determine the association among dental caries, obesity and insulin resistance in Mexican adolescents.

Body mass index, obesity (OB) blood pressure, insulin level, insulin resistance (IR), triglycerides level, serum HDL-cholesterol (cHDL), DMFT index and salivary flow were measured.

Anthropometric measures showed a significant statistical difference (p < 0.05). Insulin level was 8.98 for healthy subjects, whereas for OB-IR group was 25.35, there was a statistical significant difference (p < 0.05). Triglycerides level was 88.50 for healthy subjects and 169.40 mg/dL for OB-IR; cHDL was 52.88 for healthy and 41.82 mg/dL for OB-IR group, both showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). Salivary flow was 4.30 for healthy and for OB-IR group was 5.48 ml/min showed a significant statistical difference (p < 0.05). DMFT index was 3.02 for healthy and for OB-IR adolescents was 4.78, showed a significant statistical diference (p < 0.05). The caries component of DMFT index was 1.84 for healthy and was 3.52 for OB-IR adolescents, showed a significant statistical difference (p < 0.05). According to the multivariate analysis, DMFT (OR = 3.10; IC 95% = 0.20-1.02, p = 0.042) and decay (OR = 3.30; IC 95% = 0.19-1.0, p = 0.011) were associated with subjects with OB-IR.

OB-IR Mexican adolescents showed a positive association with DMFT.