Dental Caries and Its Association with Body Mass Index Among School Children of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: Few studies have investigated the relationship of dental caries with obesity among Saudi Arabian population. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the association of obesity with dental caries among school children.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among 12- and 15-year-old government school children of Riyadh. A total of 2247 children were examined from 24 schools of Riyadh. Caries status (decayed, missing, and filled teeth [DMFT]) was recorded according to World Health Organization (WHO) Oral Health Survey 2013. Height and weight measurements were recorded after clinical examination. According to body mass index (BMI) percentiles, the children were classified as underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese. Chi-square test was used to find association between variables for categorical data. Mean ± standard deviation (SD) was calculated for continuous measurements and to find the difference between the groups unpaired test/analysis of variance was used. A value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Dental caries prevalence was 83.7% and mean DMFT was 5.31 ± 3.88 in the study population. A statistically significant difference was found for mean decayed, mean filled teeth, and overall mean DMFT between 12 and 15 years old ( < 0.001), but not for mean missing teeth ( = 0.137). There was no association between BMI categories and mean DMFT for both the age groups.

Conclusion: The dental caries was found to be high among the study subjects compared to WHO norms. Older children had higher DMFT values than the younger children and there was no association between dental caries and BMI.