Association of Obesity with Periodontitis, Tooth Loss and Oral Hygiene in Non-smoking Adults

Abstract

Background: Periodontitis was found to be significantly related to obesity as well as the number of missing teeth and oral hygiene. However, the studies addressing these relationships often included smokers and diabetics, and none was performed in Eastern European patients. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate associations between obesity and periodontitis, oral hygiene, and tooth loss in a sample of non-smoking Croatian subjects aged 31-75 years. Methods: A total of 320 patients were recruited by convenient sampling at the Dental Clinic, Clinical Hospital Centre in Rijeka, Croatia. Periodontal examination and data on tooth loss were completed in 292 subjects and each participant completed a structured written questionnaire with questions regarding oral hygiene, education, height, and weight. Periodontitis was categorized as early, moderate and advanced. In multiple regression analysis, periodontitis was used as predictor variable, and BMI, oral hygiene, tooth loss, and education level were used as dependent variables. Results: Use of interdental brushes/flossing and number of missing teeth correlated significantly with BMI, but the same could not be proven for periodontitis and frequency of tooth brushing. However, logistic regression proved that the subset of obese, poorly educated women aged 36−55 years were 5-6 times more likely to develop severe forms of periodontal disease. Conclusions: Obesity was associated with tooth loss, oral hygiene, and education level in the investigated group. BMI could not be correlated with severity of periodontal disease, except in poorly educated women aged 36-55 years.

A scoping review of the implications of adult obesity in the delivery and acceptance of dental care

“…Six of these articles support the argument that obese adults have fewer teeth compared to normal weight individuals 24,26,27,29,30,31 , however a case control study found no significant difference between the number of teeth in normal weight and obese individuals 23 . Two of the articles quote the significance of having less than 21 teeth which obesity.…”

“…The majority of articles that related to obesity and periodontal disease suggested an association between the two, specifically noting obesity as a risk factor for periodontal disease [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] however not all the published articles found a significant association 7,26 .…”

“…These articles include three cross-sectional surveys and a case-control study 18,26,27,42 . The casecontrol study found that overweight and obese adults were more likely to report their dental status as unhealthy compared with normal weight subjects.…”

“…The casecontrol study found that overweight and obese adults were more likely to report their dental status as unhealthy compared with normal weight subjects. The three crosssectional surveys found that overweight and obese adults reported having dry mouths 27 , a lack of use of interdental cleaning aids 26 and having poor oral health and fewer teeth, compared with normal weight individuals after controlling for socioeconomic factors 18 .…”

Association between abdominal obesity and periodontal disease. Cross-sectional study.

“…It would be possible to explain this due to ethnic and anthropometric differences in the populations studied. Another study establishes that obesity would be related to tooth loss, oral hygiene, and low educational level, but not with PD 28 . This difference may be due to the variation in the measurement of the variables, and data collection using a questionnaire which was administered to the participants (with the exception of PD) being exposed to memory bias.…”