Oral Health and Dietary Behavior in Young Adults With Obesity

Objectives: Obesity and sugar consumption are supposed to interact unfavorably with oral health. This study aimed to investigate caries experience and gingival inflammation in a cohort of young adults with obesity under consideration of dietary composition.
Methods: 85 adolescent participants (19–35 years) from the Leipzig Childhood Obesity Cohort were investigated who had been overweight or obese since childhood. A validated height and weight assessment with transformation to sex- and age-specific standard score was performed. One calibrated dentist recorded the Plaque-Index (PI), Gingiva-Index (GI), caries experience (decayed missing filled teeth index, DMFT) using ICDAS II criteria, and the basic erosive wear index (BEWE). Total sweet consumption (TSC; including fruits, sweet snacks, and drinks) was calculated based on data accessed by the Composition and Culture of Eating questionnaire. Generalized additive models assuming a negative binomial distribution were applied to model caries experience and gingival inflammation depending on age and TSC.
Results: The study cohort (age_mean=24±5.7 years) included 33% male participants and BMI_mean was 37±9.2 kg/sqm. The mean DMFT was 5.7±5.1. Age correlated significantly with caries experience (p<0.005; R-sq_adj=0.22). An increase in caries experience at the age of 25 was evident, but the model explained only 14.1% of the total deviance. Bad TSC scores showed a trend of association with higher DMFT (p_bad/good=0.163;p_bad/normal=0.253). In case of high sugar consumption, plaque accumulation had a lower impact on bleeding of the gingiva (bleeding even in case of low PI); low sugar consumption showed a more linear increase of bleeding depending on PI (p<0.05; R-sq_adj=0.381, deviance explained = 36.2%).
Conclusions: The amount and frequency of sugar consumption affect oral health regarding caries and gingival inflammation among young adults with obesity. The increase in caries experienced at age 25 indicates a potential gap in preventive measures in the early 20s.