Body mass index could be a potential risk factor for periodontitis among healthy young individuals (i.e. those with a body mass index of < 30 kg/m2). It may be useful to include an evaluation of body mass index on a regular basis in university general and oral health examinations.

Validity of a Questionnaire for Periodontitis Screening of Japanese Employees: Tatsuo YAMAMOTO, et al. Department of Preventive Dentistry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical SciencesObjectives: Workplaces are suitable for screening for periodontal disease effectively. However, the majority of workplaces do not have a screening program. One possible reason may be that pocket probing, which is commonly used for the screening, needs qualified examiners and is time-consuming. In this study, the validity of a self-reported questionnaire was assessed for screening of periodontitis in 50-to 59-yr-old male employees in Japan. Methods: A total of 250 people were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire regarding signs and symptoms of periodontal disease, and experience of periodontal treatment, followed by a clinical examination by a dentist. Subjects with at least one tooth having a clinical attachment loss of 7 mm or more were defined as periodontitis patients. Results: Thirteen percent of the subjects were diagnosed as having periodontitis. Logistic regression selected 4 questions, "Are you a current or past smoker?", "Have your gums bled recently?", "Do you think that you can see more roots of teeth than in the past?", and "Have you ever been told that you need periodontal or gum treatment?" as potential predictors of periodontitis. When subjects with at least 3 "yes" responses to the 4 questions were separated from the others, the subjects with periodontitis were separated most effectively (showing the highest sensitivity + specificity: 1.524) from those without. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.81. Conclusions: These results suggest that the self-reported questions are useful for screening of periodontitis in 50-to 59-yr-old Japanese workers. (J Occup Health 2009; 51: 137-143)

Elevated ALT could be a potential risk indicator for periodontitis among young males. Monitoring hepatic abnormalities to prevent periodontitis must be better understood, even in the young adult population.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of dietary preference to bite force and occlusal contact area in Japanese elementary school children. A total of 348 children, aged 7-12 years, from two public elementary schools located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, participated in the study. Clinical examination included decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft and DMFT), and total numbers of deciduous and permanent teeth. Bite force and occlusal contact area were measured using a pressure-detecting sheet. Dietary preference was assessed using a questionnaire in which the answers were given in like/dislike form. Mann-Whitney U-test and multiple logistic regression analysis were applied to analyse the data. In multiple logistic regression analysis after adjustment for age, gender and total number of teeth present, children who liked cabbage and celery showed significantly higher bite force (P = 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively) than those who disliked these. Children who liked cabbage and celery also showed higher occlusal contact area (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively) than those who disliked these. The Japanese elementary school children who liked hard foods such as cabbage and celery showed higher bite force and higher occlusal contact area than those who disliked these foods. A positive attitude towards harder food items might contribute to healthy development of the masticatory apparatus.

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A newly developed questionnaire revealed that there are four factors in adults' perception of children's cuteness: childlike behavior, children's imitation of adults, adults' protective feeling toward children, and children's physical attributes. Eighty-four childless undergraduates and 72 adults with at least one child watched a film of a five-year-old boy and girl dressed either in boyish clothes or girlish, and then assessed their cuteness using the questionnaire. The results showed that participants rated equally their feeling of children's cuteness regardless of having or not having their own children. Among the four factors of cuteness, childlike behavior seemed to operate most strongly.

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