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

OBJECTIVES

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 (<P85), overweight (P85-P95), and obesity (>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.