Oral Care and Probiotics

Background: Obesity is a growing health-related problem worldwide. Both obesity and dental caries are important health issues with multifactorial aspects and both have been linked to dietary and lifestyle habits. Some studies have shown an association between body mass index (BMI) and caries in childhood/adolescence but limited data about such an association is available in adults. The primary goal of this study was to assess the prevalence of dental caries and its relationship to BMI.

 

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study at Taif University Outpatient Clinic for adults who had a visit to the dental clinic. Baseline characteristics were obtained by the participating physician. The decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index was used to determine the prevalence of dental caries. Information about healthy eating, smoking, exercise, sleep patterns, media consumption and brushing habits were collected.

 

Results: A total of 385 patients were enrolled with a mean age of 28.39 years, 72.8% were male, mean DMFT index score of 6.55, and 85.5% reported brushing their teeth at least once daily. 55.3% of participants were either overweight or obese. 42.2% demonstrated a high prevalence of dental caries with no significant difference in BMI when compared to the low dental caries group.

 

Conclusions: A high prevalence of overweight/obesity and dental caries was observed among the participants. After controlling forpotential confounders like smoking and brushing habits, significant positive correlation between BMI and DMFT was observed.