Is Body Mass Index for-age Related with Dental Caries in Children?

Abstract

Aim: Nutrition has a significant impact on dental health. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between dental caries and body mass index (BMI)-for-age. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and fifty-one children who were 5-14 years were included in this study. The children were examined according to dmft/DMFT indexes with mirror - sound and panoramic radiography. After taking weight and height measurements, the BMIfor- age calculation, age, weight and height status were entered into the World Health Organization AnthroPlus Software program in order to obtain a z-score for each child. The children were grouped according to their z-scores as Group 1: normal; Group 2: overweight; Group 3: fat/obese; Group 4: underweight; and Group 5: severely underweight. Data were analyzed using SPSS software 22, correlation, frequency and independent sample t-tests. Results: The mean age of the children was 9.1±2.5 years. The mean DMFT/dmft values were 6.97±3.79. 55% of the children were of normal weight, 16.2% were overweight, 11.8% were fat/obese, 12.2% were underweight and 4.8% were severely underweight. In terms of DMFT/dmft, when the groups were compared, a statistically significant difference was found between Group 3 and Groups 1, 4 and 5 (p