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Ylöstalo P, Suominen-Taipale L et al. J Clin Periodontol 2008; 35: 297–304

Obesity is a 'risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and type II diabetes'. Despite periodontal disease being trivial compared with the above conditions, studies have looked for associations between obesity and periodontitis and the results are equivocal. As part of the Health 2000 Health Examination Survey in Finland, body mass index and periodontal pockets 4 mm or deeper, were measured on 2841, dentate, non-diabetic subjects aged 30-49 years old. When controlling for smoking and other possible confounders, there was a weak association between body weight and deepened periodontal pockets. The authors discussed the limitations of this cross-sectional designed study and pointed out, somewhat vexatiously, that an alternative interpretation of these results is that 'periodontal infection could be a risk factor for obesity'!