Evaluating a linkage between obesity and the occurrence of dental caries among school going children in Sakaka, Al Jouf, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Osama Khattak; Azhar Iqbal; Farooq Ahmad Chaudhary; Jamaluddin Syed; Thani Alsharari; Sudhakar Vundavalli; Bayan Abdullah Sadiq Aljahdali; Ahmed Eidan Abdullah AlZahrani; Rakhi Issrani; Sherif Elsayed Sultan

doi:10.7717/peerj.13582

Evaluating a linkage between obesity and the occurrence of dental caries among school going children in Sakaka, Al Jouf, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

PeerJ. 2022 Jun 13:10:e13582. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13582. eCollection 2022.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Restorative Dentistry, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia.
² School of Dentistry (SOD), Federal Medical Teaching Institution (FMTI)/PIMS, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), Islamabad, Pakistan.
³ Oral Basic Clinical Sciences Department, Faculty of Dentistry, King AbdulAziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Regenerative Dentistry, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
⁵ Restorative and Dental Materials Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ General Dentist, Arar, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ General Dentist, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Fixed Prosthodontics, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
¹⁰ Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: Obesity and dental caries are global public health problems. There are conflicting reports about the relationship between caries and obesity. The aim of this study was to analyze the type of relationship between the dental caries and obesity among school children in Al-Jouf region of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 participants aged 6 to 14 years. The study involved measuring caries (dmft/DMFT), assessing body mass index (BMI), and administering a self-completion questionnaire. An independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed.

Results: Out of 400 participants, 380 agreed to participate in the study. Overall caries prevalence among the participants was 76.1% and mean DMFT and dmft values were 2.8 ± 1.0 and 3.7 ± 1.6. Among the factors associated with mean caries scores, relation between DMFT scores and frequency of consumption of sugar was statistically significant (F = 3.82,0.01). Regression models has identified children with increased BMI values has 3.2 times more risk of getting dental caries in permanent teeth (P = 0.001).

Conclusion: There was a positive association between obesity and dental caries in school going Saudi Arabian children. Comprehensive multidisciplinary approach by health professionals is recommended for preventive public health issues related to caries and obesity in teenagers.

Keywords: Body mass index; Children; Dental caries; Diet; Obesity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Body Mass Index
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dental Caries* / epidemiology
Humans
Obesity / epidemiology
Saudi Arabia / epidemiology

Grants and funding

This research received funding from Jouf University Saudi Arabia (reference number DSR 2020-04-2579). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.