J Orofac Sci, 2(2)2010

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OROFACIAL SCIENCESJournal of

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article History :Received : 20 July 2010Received in revised form : 27 July 2010Accepted : 7 August 2010

* Corresponding author :Dr. Niraj GokhaleDepartment of Pedodontics and Preventive DentistryNarayana Dental College,Nellore, Andhra Pradesh-524002, India.neeraj_gokhale05@rediffmail.com

Dental Caries and Body Mass Index in Children of Nellore.Niraj Gokhalea*, Sivakumar. Na, Nirmala. SVSGa, Abinash. Ma

aDepartment of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Narayana Dental College, Chintareddypalem, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Original Research

AIM : The purpose of this study was to find whether any correlation existsbetween dental caries and body mass index.

MATERIALS AND METHOD : Height and weight of 100 patients were takenand body mass index was calculated and oral examination was carried out tofind any correlation with dental caries.

RESULTS : The results showed that no statistically significant values wereobtained for BMI and dental caries (Chi square=8.030), similarly for BMI andsocioeconomic status (Chi square=6.704) and also for socioeconomic status anddental caries (Chi square=1.103).

CONCLUSION: More factors other than the BMI, Socioeconomic status areinvolved in the prevalence of caries.

Key Words :Body Mass Index,Dental Caries.

©2010 SIDS.All Rights Reserved

INTRODUCTION :

Dental caries is an increasing public health problemworldwide. Incidence of dental caries is on the rise inspiteof best efforts by dental health professionals to reduce itsincidence. Because of the increasing trend of sedentarylifestyle and indulgence in consumption of “JUNK” foodoverweight and obesity are on rise. Overweight and obesepeople are at increased risk of developing medical andpsychological problems. High sugar intake is reported tobe more common among overweight and obese childrenthan those with normal weights. Frequent sugar intake isalso recognized risk factor for dental caries. Thus the eatingpattern among overweight or obese children may be a riskfactor in common for caries and overweight1. Thedocumentation of such relationship is sparse and seemingly

inconsistent. An accepted method to evaluate anindividual’s body weight is through calculation of bodymass index (BMI). Due to changed eating habits, anincrease in high weight and obesity especially in developedand developing countries has been observed over the pasttwo decades1, 2. Childhood obesity may lead to seriousdiseases, a decrease in life expectancy and numerous otherproblems. Childhood obesity and Caries may share somecommon factors: Biological/genetic factors, social/culturalfactors, dietary/feeding factors, and environmental/lifestylefactors. Other factors are : Poverty, race, and intake of drugswhich may reduce salivary flow3.

MATERIALS AND METHOD :

Present study was carried out in Dept of Pedodontics,Narayana Dental College and Hospital after explainingthe study to parents and obtaining informed consent fromthe parent. 100 children aged 3-14 years were taken intothe study. The demographic data was recorded on a

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TABLE1.

COMPARING BMI WITH DECAY

TABLE2:

COMPARING BMI WITH SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS

TABLE 3:

COMPARING SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS WITH DECAY

recording form. The parents were asked about theirprofession and based on it the socioeconomic status wasdetermined. Dental examination was carried out by asingle examiner and data entered by a single assistant.The DMFT and def indices were recorded after dryingthe teeth with air and using a mirror and No 23 explorer.After the dental examination the height and weight (BAI®

weighing scale) of the children were determined usingstandardized scales. The Body Mass Index was calculatedusing the formula BMI= Kg/m2 using height and weightmeasures4. Using age and gender specific criteria, subjectswere categorized as

� Ideal weight: BMI 14-17.

� Under weight: BMI less than 14.

� Over weight: BMI more than 17.

Socioeconomic division was done based on the professionas given by Tata consultancy service5 into

� Lower class

� Lower middle class

� Upper middle class

� Middle class.

� High class.

RESULTS :

Data collected was statistically analyzed using SPSS16.0 software.

Parameters like BMI, Decay were categorized and theresults were found insignificant for all the pairs ofcombinations i.e,

• BMI and Decay (p>0.05) (Table- 1)

• BMI and Socio Economic Status (p>0.05)

(Table -2)

• Socio economic status and Decay (p>0.05) at

0.05 level (Table-3)

This means that other factors like living habits, fluoridecontent of water, and type of food being consumed etc,also have a role in carious process.

DECAY_CODEBMICODE *

DECAY_CODETotal

0 TO 2 3 TO 5 6 TO 7

BMI

CODE

Chisquare =

8.030NS

LESSTHAN 14

15 8 0 23

14 - 17 52 11 3 66

GREATERTHAN 14

5 5 1 11

Total 27 24 4 100

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUSBMICODE * SOCIO

ECONOMIC statusTotal

UPC LC LMC

BMICODE

Chisquare=6.704NS

LESSTHAN 14 4 4 15 23

14 - 17 25 16 25 66

GREATERTHAN 14

5 3 3 11

Total 34 23 43 100

DECAY_CODESOCIOECONOMIC

status* DECAY_CODETotal

SOCIO

Chisquare=1.103NS

UPC 25 8 1 34

LC 18 4 1 23

LMC 29 12 2 43

Total 72 24 4 100

0 TO 2 3 TO 5 6 TO 7

The results from our study portrayed that there is noevident correlation between BMI and dental caries.

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DISCUSSION :

In a study which compared the relation between bodymass index and S-ECC found that BMI percentile wasnot correlated with dmft or the number of pulp-involvedteeth, even after adjusting for confounding factors6. Astudy found that adolescents with overweight and obesityhad significantly higher approximal caries prevalence thanthose of normal weight7. In a study by Brita Willerhausenet al showed that a significant association exists betweenhigh weight and caries frequency in the first dentition(p=0.0067) and in the permanent dentition (p=0.0002)2.Gerdin EW et al from their study in 2303 Swedishchildren found that association of overweight and dentalcaries is weak8.

CONCLUSION :

Hence from this study it can be seen that Body MassIndex cannot be used to correlate dental caries and theweight of the child as the degree of significance is veryless. Other factors do have a role to play in the cariesprocess. More longitudinal studies with higher samplesize are needed to confirm this association.

REFERENCES :

1. Hong L, Ahmed A, McCunniff M, Overman P, Mathew M.Obesity and Dental Caries in Children aged 2- 6 Years in the

United States- National Health and Nutrition ExaminationSurvey 1999-2002. J Public Health Dent. 2008Fall;68(4):227-33

2. Brita Willerhausen, Maria Blettner, Adrian Kasaj, andKatharina Hohenfellner. Association between Body mass Indexand dental health in 1,290 children of elementary school inGerman city. Clin Oral Invest 2007; 11:195–200.

3. Patil SN, and Wasnik V. Nutritional and Health Status of RuralSchool Children in Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra. Journalof Clinical and Diagnostic Research 2009 June (3):1611-1614.

4. B.M. Frier, A.S.Truswell, J. Shepherd, A.De Looy, and R.Jung.Diabetes mellitus, and nutritional and metabolic disorders. InChristopher Haslett, Edwin Chilvers, John A A Hunter, andNicolas Boon editors. Davidson’s principles and practice ofmedicine. 18th edition Churchill Livingstone press; 1999. Pgno 526.

5. Park & Park: Social Sciences and Medicine. Text book ofPreventive and Social medicine 18th edn. Banarsidas BhanotPublishers 1167, Premnagar, Press chowk, Jabalpur; 2005, Pgno 517.

6. Barbara Sheller, Shervin Churchill, Bryan Williams, and BoDavidson. Body mass Index of children with severe earlychildhood caries. Pediatric dentistry 2009; 31(3): 216-220.

7. Anita Alm. Dental caries and caries related factors in childrenand teenagers. Swed Dent J 2004; 28: 61-66.

8. Elisabeth Wärnberg Gerdin, Marianne Angbratt, KerstinAronsson, Elin Eriksson, and Ingegerd Johansson. Dental cariesand Body Mass Index by Socioeconomic status in SwedishChildren. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2008; 36(5):459-465.