Body adiposity status in teenagers and snacking habits in early childhood in relation to approximal caries at 15 years of age

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

Overweight teenagers would appear to have more caries.

Main

Alm A, Fåhraeus C et al. Int J Paed Dent 2008; 18: 189–196

A recently published systematic review examining relationships between obesity and dental caries reported contradictory results. The approximal caries status, as shown by bitewing radiographs, was recorded in 402, 15-year-old, adolescents, in addition to their body adiposity status (isoBMI). Snacking habits had been quantified and recorded, when their children were 1 and 3 years of age, by interviewing the parents. Overweight and obese adolescents had 1.6 times higher approximal caries than those who were normal weight (mean proximal caries prevalence and fillings 4.64 vs 2.94; P = 0.014). Snacking during early childhood appeared to be a risk factor for caries at 15 years of age. The authors conclude that multi-disciplinary approaches should be used to encourage 'healthy teeth' and 'healthy weight'.