Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, D.J. College of Dental Science and Research, Modinagar (U.P.)
*Address for correspondence: R Somani Email id: somanirani@gmail.com
Online published on 23 December, 2013.
Prevalence of obesity in children has increased worldwide because of increasing trend of sedentary lifestyle and indulgence in consumption of “junk” food. Overweight and obese children are at increased risk of developing medical and psychological problems like cardiovascular disorders, depression etc. High sugar intake is reported to be more common among overweight and obese children, which is also recognized as one of the risk factor for dental caries.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dental caries and body mass index (BMI) in school going children of Modinagar city.
Height and weight of 500 patients of age 6–9 yrs were taken to calculate body mass index and oral examination was carried out respectively.
The highest mean DFT/dft was seen in obese and overweight children, followed by underweight children, while normal weight children were at lowest risk for dental caries.
The result of this study supports a direct correlation between dental caries and obesity.
Body mass index, dental caries
