Prevalence of Dental Caries in Obese and Normal-weight Brazilian Adolescents Attending State and Private Schools

Objective: To measure the association between dental caries and obesity in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years attending state and private schools.

Basic Research Design: Cross-sectional study.

Research Setting: State and private schools in the state of Paraiba, Brazil.

Participants: 1665 obese and 1665 normal-weight adolescents.

Main Outcome Measures: These were chosen by means of an anthropometric study using height/age and weight/height indices, adopting as baseline the National Center for Health Statistics indices. The diagnostic criteria for caries were those of the World Health Organization (1997).

Results: The average DMFT for obese adolescents from state schools was 4.27 and for those of normal weight it was 4.25 (p = 0.7802). In private schools, the corresponding figures were 1.90 and 1.91, respectively (p = 0.1151). In state schools, the caries prevalence amongst the obese group was 50.9% and amongst those of normal weight, 52.4% (p = 0.5393). In private schools, it was 9.0% amongst the obese group and 9.6% amongst those of normal weight (p 0.6790).

Conclusions: There was no statistically significant association between dental caries and obesity. Caries levels were higher amongst adolescents attending state schools.