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Updated: Apr 24, 2026

Oral Biofilm Sampling for Microbiome Analysis in Healthy Children
Published on: December 31, 2017
Association between childhood obesity and oral hygiene status
Eduardo Gomes Ferraz1, Luciana Rodrigues Silva2, Viviane Almeida Sarmento3
1DDS, MSc, PhD. School of Dentistry. Federal University of Bahia. Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Professor Edgard Santos Teaching Hospital. Federal University of Bahia. Salvador. Bahia. Brazil.. ed_ferraz@yahoo.com.br.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the oral hygiene status in pediatric obese patients.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2011 to 2012, which evaluated 180 Brazilian pediatric patients, 6-14 years old, girls and boys, recruited according to two Body Mass Index (BMI) categories: obese and non-obese (healthy weight). For the evaluation the oral hygiene status, the study used Oral Hygiene Index (OHI) and Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI).
Results:
According to the total sample, 5/60 obese (8.3%) and 57/120 non-obese (47.5%) had good OHI, while 23/60 obese (38.4%) and 3/120 non-obese (2.5%) were classified in a low level of OHI, with a significance between the groups (p < 0.001), even after sorting by age. According to the classification of GBI, 60/60 obese (100.0%) and 89/120 non-obese (74.2%) had GBI 1 (bleeding gingiva), and 0/60 obese and 31/120 non-obese (25.8%) were classified as GBI 0 (healthy gingiva), with a significance between the groups (p < 0.001), even after sorting by age.
Conclusions:
This study indicated that OHI and GBI were significantly higher in the obese children group.
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