Is Childhood Obesity a Risk Factor for Dental Caries?
A population-based
study
Matthew Cooke, DDS
Spring 2005
Advisor, Tilahun Adera, PhD, MPH
Objective: Obesity and dental caries are among the most prevalent health conditions in children living in the United States. Both conditions appear to be associated with life in affluent nations and have environmental and genetic etiologies. Knowledge of the health consequences of obesity is mounting. This study examined the association between childhood obesity and dental caries.
Methods: Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were used. In accordance with CDC guidelines, age-and-sex-specific BMIs were used to classify children as underweight ( <5 th percentile), normal weight (>5 th-<85 th percentile), at risk of overweight ( >85 th-<95 th percentile) and overweight ( >95 th percentile). Decayed, missing, and filled tooth (DMFT/dft) indices were used to measure lifetime experience of dental caries. Both BMI and dental caries were analyzed as categorical and continuous variables. Multiple logistic and multiple linear regression methods were used to determine if obesity was associated with dental caries after controlling for potential confounding variables.
Results: Forty eight percent of the sample had dental caries, (DMFT/dft >1). Four percent of the sample was underweight, 13.2% at risk of overweight, and 11.8% overweight. Multivariate logistic regression model revealed no association between normal weight and “underweight” (OR=0.97, 95%CI= 0.75, 1.24), “at risk of overweight” (OR= 1.04, 95% CI=0.89,1.2) or “overweight” (OR=0.86 95% CI= 0.74,1.01). In contrast, the multiple linear regression method, in which both BMI and dental caries were entered as continuous variables, showed a significantly inverse association, (p<0. 0001).
Conclusion: Although results from the two regression methods were inconsistent, the multiple linear regression method would be expected to give a more accurate result because it utilizes a continuous scale of measurement for the dependent variable. Therefore, we conclude that childhood obesity is associated with dental caries.
