Poor Oral Hygiene and High Levels of Inflammatory Cytokines in Saliva Predict the Risk of Overweight and Obesity

Abstract

The study aimed to determine if oral hygiene influences not only oral health but also potentially metabolic disorders such as overweight or obesity. Participants were 94 patients: 40 with increased body mass and 54 with normal body mass. The methods included dental examination, a questionnaire concerning hygienic habits and an assessment of selected salivary inflammatory markers. The new parameter named “cleaning index” (describing the interaction between average time of tooth brushing in minutes and its frequency per day) significantly correlated with Body Mass Index (RSpearman = 0.300). The multivariate regression model incorporating cleaning index, approximal plaque index, receptor 1 for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα-R1) and interleukin-15 (IL-15) had a high power to predict overweight or obesity (AUC = 0.894). Patients with poor oral hygiene (approximal plaque index >40%) were more than eight times more likely to suffer from obesity than patients with good oral hygiene. Cleaning index higher than 4 decreased the odds by about 85%. Oral hygiene habits, adjusted by salivary concentrations of selected inflammatory markers may allow predicting effectively overweight or obesity risk. Early proper dental prophylaxis and treatment could lead to the better prevention of metabolic disorders.

Lifestyle Risk Factors and the Population Attributable Fractions for Overweight and Obesity in Chinese Students of Zhejiang Province

“…Overall, the prevalence of obesity/overweight was higher in males than that in females in this study, which was similar to what was found in other populations ( 27 , 28 ). Our findings were also consistent with previous studies, which showed that unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, including poor oral hygiene ( 13 ), irregular breakfast habits ( 18 ), alcohol use ( 29 ), excessive TV time ( 12 , 18 , 30 ), and insufficient sleep time ( 11 , 31 ) were associated with obesity in students ( 18 ). The mechanism why skipping breakfast would cause obesity may be related to the greater thermogenesis, which was found in those having breakfast regularly ( 32 ).…”

“…Overall, modifiable lifestyle factors include but not limited to the aforementioned factors, were identified to be significantly associated with obesity ( 10 , 13 , 17 , 18 ). However, few intervention programs pragmatically endeavored to reduce multiple risk behaviors.…”

“…Understanding lifestyle factors for obesity intervention in children and adolescences are necessary. The attribution of these factors, such as dietary behavior, physical activity, screen time and sleeping, could vary in different populations (10)(11)(12)(13). For examples, the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverage has a greater impact on obesity in male Korea adults than in their female counterparts (10).…”

Salivary Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Stroke Patients: From Basic Research to Clinical Practice

“…Several clinical studies have reported elevated inflammatory biomarkers: ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), hematocrit, leukocytosis, CRP (c-reactive protein), and IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, or TNF- α [ 186 – 188 ]. Of particular note are the proinflammatory cytokines that have been quantified in the saliva of patients with other systemic diseases, including metabolic [ 189 , 190 ] and neurodegenerative [ 17 , 191 ] disorders. In patients with obesity and psoriasis, salivary cytokine levels reflect their blood content [ 89 , 104 ].…”

Modifiable Lifestyle Factors and their Relationships with Metabolic Disorders among Adults in Burkina Faso: Findings from the First National Survey

“…Indeed, having demonstrated that more frequent toothbrushing was related to a lower prevalence and incidence of MetS and its components, Kobayashi et al suggested that more frequent toothbrushing may contribute to the prevention of MetS due to the inflammation/triglyceride pathway [60]. Moreover, the finding of the link between the poor oral hygiene and the high levels of inflammatory cytokines with the risk of excess of weight resulted authors concluding that the early proper dental prophylaxis and treatment could lead to the better prevention of metabolic disorders [61]. The 5-year follow-up retrospective study (of 3722 participants aged 35-64 years) reported that the participants with more frequent daily toothbrushing tended to have significantly lower odds of developing the increased number of components or MetS (p for trend = 0.01) [62].…”