Association between dental caries and obesity evaluated by air displacement plethysmography in 18-year-old adolescents in Pelotas, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between dental caries and obesity, evaluated by air displacement plethysmography, among 18-year-old adolescents from a birth cohort in the city of Pelotas, Brazil.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study nested in a birth cohort study was conducted in Pelotas, Brazil. A random sample of 986 18-year-old adolescents was selected. The outcome variable was the occurrence of dental caries (DMFT ≥ 1) according to clinical examination by a trained and calibrated dentist. For the exposure variable (obesity), body fat percentage was measured using air displacement plethysmography and classified as normal weight (P95). Sociodemographic and behavior variables were collected using a questionnaire. We performed multivariable Poisson regression analyses with robust variance to examine the association between dental caries and obesity.

RESULTS

DMFT ranged from 0 to 19; mean (SD) was 2 (2.3), and median (P25-P75) was 1 (0-3). Body fat percentage ranged from 0.9 to 57.6%; mean (SD) percentage was 24.4% (11.6%), and median (P25-P75) was 25.1% (14.0-32.9%). The prevalence of dental caries was 66.5% (95% CI 63.6-69.5%), being significantly higher in female adolescents with lower maternal education, lower education, and sugar intake more than once a day. There were no differences in the probability of dental caries among individuals with normal weight, overweight, or obesity in the unadjusted model (P = 0.846) or after adjustment for sociodemographic (P = 0.864) variables.

CONCLUSIONS

Overweight and obesity were not associated with the occurrence of dental caries in 18-year-old adolescents.