Diet Practices, Body Mass Index, and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Adults with Periodontitis- A Case-Control Study.

OBJECTIVES

To assess and compare dietpractices, body mass index (BMI), and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in adults with and without periodontitis.

METHODS

Demographics, health-related behaviors, BMI, dental and periodontal parameters, diet practices, and Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) were collected from 62periodontitis patients and 100 controls without periodontitis.

RESULTS

Havingperiodontitis was positively associated with male sex (=0.004), older age (<0.001), smoking pack-years ( = 0.006), weight ( = 0.008), BMI ( = 0.003), number of meals per day (<0.001) and had a negative associationwithdecayed teeth ( = 0.013), alcohol ( = 0.006), and sweets ( = 0.007) consumption.Periodontitis patients were more likely to avoid carbonated beverages ( = 0.028), hot ( = 0.003), and cold drinks ( = 0.013), cold ( = 0.028), hardtextured ( = 0.002), and fibrous foods ( = 0.02) thanthe controls, and exhibited higher global OHIP-14 (<0.001) andmost domain scores. Age (<0.001), BMI ( =0.045), number of meals per day ( = 0.024), and global OHIP-14 score (<0.001) remained positivelyassociated with periodontitis in the multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Periodontitis patients exhibitedhigher BMI and altered dietpracticesand OHRQoL as compared to controls. Assessment of diet practices, BMI,and OHRQoLshould bepart of periodontal work-up. Dentists and dietitians shouldcollaborate to design strategies to addressthese challenges.