Interfaces between bariatric surgery and oral health: a longitudinal survey.

PURPOSE To evaluate oral changes, such as dental caries, periodontal disease, dental wear and salivary flow in bariatric patients. Fifty four obese patients who underwent bariatric surgery were studied before (n=54), up after 3 months (n=24) and 6 months (n=16). METHODS Indices for evaluating oral conditions were: DMFT, CPI, DWI and salivary flow. OIDP questionnaire was used to assess the impact of oral health on quality of life. ANOVA and Spearman correlation were used (p<0.05). RESULTS DMFT was 17.6 ± 5.7, 18.4 ± 4.1 and 18.3 ± 5.5 (P>0.05), presence of periodontal pockets in 50%, 58% and 50% of patients (p>0.05), tooth wear in dentin present in 81.5%, 87.5% and 87.5% before, 3 and 6 months after surgical treatment respectively. There were differences between the three periods for prevalence and severity of dental wear (p = 0.012). Salivary flow was 0.8 ± 0.5 ml/min before surgery, 0.9 ± 0.5 ml/min for 3 months and 1.1 ± 0.5m/min for 6 months (p>0.05). The impact of oral health on quality of life decreased with time after bariatric surgery (p= 0.029). CONCLUSION The lifestyle changes after bariatric surgery and these changes may increase the severity of pre-existing dental problems. However, these alterations in oral health did not influence the quality of life.