Body mass characterization of dental diseases - A quantitative prospective study

Dental caries is the result of confluence of 4 major factors host, agent, environment and time. Diet is one such factor which is common to this cascade, diet contributes not only to obesity but it affects periodontal status as well. Overweight and obesity, especially in children, are increasing public health problems worldwide. Obesity can be very well calculated by Body mass index (BMI). The body mass index (BMI), or Quetelet index, is a heuristic proxy for human body fat based on an individual's weight and height.1) BMI was found to have a negative correlation with DMFT (r = −0.011) which was statistically non-significant. BMI was found to have a negative correlation with periodontal Index (r = −0.062) which was statistically non-significant. The mean values for BMI, DMFT and PI scores were 19.74, 1.29 and 0.24, respectively. The distribution of BMI for levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 was 43.5, 44.8, 8.3 and 3.5%, respectively. The caries prevalence for the whole sample was 36.8%, and it ranged from 28.6% (BMI-4) to 42.4% (BMI-3).