Dental Status in Patients with Obesity Scheduled for Bariatric Surgery

The epidemic of morbid obesity results in an increasing number of bariatric surgery procedures including gastroplasty and gastric by pass (GBP). This surgery yields major modifications of the gastrointestinal tract, and a good dental status appears to be an essential condition for the nutrional outcome of the procedure. Objective: to describe the dental status of a sample of 50 adult patients presenting a morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 35) and scheduled for a GBP. Methods: For each patient, a thorough clinical and radiographical dental examination was performed and salivary parameters were analysed. Furthermore their oral health quality of life was assessed using the GOHAI questionnaire. The results were correlated to the general clinical parameters provided by the nutrition department (weight status, body mass index BMI, obesity complications such as diabetes..) using the SPSS® software Results: The sample was composed of 7 males and 43 females, aged 18 to 62 presenting a BMI of 47.5±9.46, a DMFT of 10.24±6.33 (0 to 28) and a DMFS of 34.3±30.4 (mean ±SD). Only a few patients presented active carious lesions (less than 20%). More than 50% of the patients presented a periodontitis and this was strongly correlated with the presence of a diabetes (P<0.05). The GOHAI questionnaire revealed that most of the patients were globally satisfied with there dental health. Conclusions: The examination of a sample of adult patients with morbid obesity revealed a high susceptibility to periodontitis for diabetic patients and a relative heterogeneity of the dental status . Furthermore, this sample was not a high caries risk population.