Relationship between obesity and dental caries in children - A preliminary study

Obesity in the young is a public health priority. The present study assessed the association between obesity and dental caries. A total of 2688 students were examined from three schools. The students from private school were more obese than government school. The study was done by means of an anthropometric study using height/weight indices according to WHO criteria and National Center for Health Statistics guidelines. BMI and DMFT indices were used . The prevalence of caries was 19.1%.No correlation between dental decay in obese and non-obese children was detected (p=0.99). These findings support US population based literature and study done by Pinto et al .Nevertheless, the impact of interventions to address the epidemic in the dental setting has not been investigated. As a part of health care team, dentist and dental students should be exposed to the changing demographics and sequelae of overweight in children.