Medical Science
Volume 24, Issue 106, November - December, 2020
Relationship between Body Mass Index and dental caries among patients of Riyadh Elm University, KSA: A cross sectional study
Abdalelah Bahmaid1, Nasser Al Duhaimi1, Abdulrahman Alammari1, Jdayel Al Wehaibi1, Naimah Al Humam1, Ashraf Kamel2♦
1Dental Interns, Riyadh Elm University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, Riyadh Elm University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
♦Corresponding author
Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, Riyadh Elm University, Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia; Email: ashraf.kamel@riyadh.edu.sa
ABSTRACT
Aim: The aim of this research was to explore the relation between body mass index (BMI) and dental caries in adult patients.
Materials and Method: The patients' data was collected through a questionnaire and oral examination after obtaining an informed
consent. World Health Organization (WHO) and DMFT index were used for diagnosis of dental caries. An independent t test was
applied to compare the mean decayed, missing, filled teeth and DMFT scores between genders and age groups. Post comparisons
were performed with Tukey’s test to identify the significant differences between the groups. Results: A total of 476 subjects
participated in this study. Higher percentage of males (62.4%), age group18-29 years (44.5%), with no medical problems (79.0%)
were included. Dental Caries (55.9%) constituted the main reason for missing teeth. The BMI distribution of the participants in this
study was normal (37.4%), overweight (33.8%), obese (22%) and underweight (6.8%). Conclusion: This study showed a statistically
significant association between the mean DMFT scores and the BMI. Overweight/obese individuals had a statistically significant
higher mean DMFT score compared to the underweight and normal subjects.
Keywords: Dental caries, DMFT, BMI, Obesity
Medical Science, 2020, 24(106), 4490-4498
