Relationship between obesity and oral diseases

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between obesity and periodontal status and dental caries experience of a group of Nigerian dental patients.

Participants were selected from patients attending dental outpatient clinics of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. Their weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) estimated in kg/m 2 , gingival health assessed using bleeding on probing index, oral hygiene estimated using the simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S), periodontal health estimated using the basic periodontal examination (BPE) and caries experience was estimated with the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index.

A few participants (3.8%) were underweight, 52.6% fell within the normal BMI range, 28.2% preobese, 12.2% obese class I and 3.2% obese class II. The mean OHI-S score was 2.16 ± 1.13 among the overweight participants and 2.05 ± 1.13 among those who are not (P = 0.543). The mean DMFT score was 3.03 ± 4.25 among the overweight participants and 2.32 ± 3.01 among those who are not (P = 0.223). Sixty-five percent of participants with BPE score of 0, considered to signify periodontal health, had normal BMI while all the participants with the worst BPE score recorded belong to the obese 1 group (P = 0.070). The binary logistic regression revealed that the likely predictor of gingival bleeding in the study is BMI between 35.0 and 39.9 (obese class 2) (P = 0.046, odds ratio = 0.07, 95% confidence interval = 0.01-0.96).

It can be concluded from this study that there is no statistically significant relationship between obesity and periodontal status and dental caries experience in the studied group of dental patients. Increased BMI may however be a predictor of gingival bleeding.