Association Between Obesity, Flow Rate of Whole Saliva, and Dental Caries in Adolescents

Abstract

In a cross‐sectional study design, we test the hypothesis whether childhood obesity is associated with reduced flow rate of stimulated whole saliva and dental caries. Obese adolescents (n = 65) with a mean age of 14.5 years and normal weight subjects (n = 65) with a mean age of 14.2 years were clinically examined with respect to dental caries, visible plaque accumulation (visible plaque index (VPI%)), gingival inflammation in terms of bleeding on probing (BOP%) as well as answered a questionnaire concerning medical history, medication, oral hygiene habits, smoking habits, and sociodemographic background. The flow rate of stimulated whole saliva (ml/min) was determined. BMI was calculated and adjusted for age and gender (BMI‐sds). The obese subjects exhibited higher number of decayed surfaces (DS), 0.7 vs. 0.1 (P = 0.008) and lower flow rate of stimulated whole saliva 1.2 vs. 2.0 ml/min (P < 0.001). Of obese patients, 17 subjects had VPI% >25 and 21 had BOP% >25, both compared to only 5 subjects of the normal weight with P values of 0.005 and <0.001, respectively. In a multivariate logistic regression model BMI‐sds was significantly associated with the flow rate of stimulated whole saliva less than the median value 1.5 ml/min (P < 0.001; odds ratio (OR) 1.36) as well as with DS (DS >0) (P = 0.002; OR 1.31) and the associations were not found to be confounded by any of the studied variables. The results indicate that childhood obesity is associated with reduced flow rate of stimulated whole saliva and dental caries and further strengthens obesity's negative effect on children's oral health.

Oral conditions and body weight in children from a public school in Manaus, AM, Brazil

“…Other studies could not find any association between body weight and prevalence of caries 18,19 either, which agrees with our findings. On the other hand, other findings showed that obese individuals had more carious surfaces than those with normal weight 20 .…”

“…On the other hand, other findings verified a positive association between gingival inflammation and obesity in children and adolescents 20,25 . The study by Franchini et al 25 also showed a significant effect of obesity on children and adolescents, aged 10 to 17, and stressed that this association may be the result of a combination of metabolic inflammation and poor oral hygiene.…”

Obesity and dental caries: systematic review

“…5,[8][9][10]15,19,[22][23][24]27,29,33,36,40,41 Eight studies included adjustments for age and sex, 6,19,23,27,29,33,36,41 two only for sex, 15,22 and fi ve for consumption of any type of food, such as soft drinks, 10,24 fruits or snacks between meals, 10 "fast food", 10 and milk, 9 as well as daily sugar consumption 19 and "snack" consumption more than three times a day. 29 Among the 28 articles, 13 were considered to have good scientifi c evidence according to the criteria of Downs & Black.…”

Changes in the salivary protein profile of morbidly obese women either previously subjected to bariatric surgery or not

“…Furthermore, most research has focused on parameters such as flow rate, electrolytes, and total protein amounts, mainly in the context of the development of dental caries (e.g. [28]). The aims of this study were to identify putative changes in salivary protein profiles in morbidly obese women and to evaluate the effect of weight loss on these profiles.…”