Association between dental hygiene, gingivitis and overweight or the risk of overweight in primary teeth of 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers in México.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between dental hygiene, gingivitis and overweight or the risk of overweight according to body mass index (BMI).

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed with 1527 preschoolers. The children were divided into 4 groups: (i) absence of visible plaque and normal weight; (ii) absence of visible plaque and risk of overweight or overweight; (iii) presence of visible plaque and normal weight; and (iv) presence of visible plaque and risk of overweight or overweight. The clinical parameters evaluated were as follows: body mass index, degree of urban marginalization, dental caries, the simplified oral hygiene index and gingival status. Bivariate analysis and multivariate binary logistic regression models were used to identify associations between variables.

RESULTS: The highest mean of gingivitis (0.28) was observed in the groups with visible plaque with normal weight and with overweight and risk of overweight. The presence of visible plaque and risk of overweight or overweight were positively associated (P = .0001) with the mean of gingivitis (OR = 8.28, 95% CI = 3.30-19.8). The absence of visible plaque and risk of overweight or overweight (P = .0001) were also positively associated with the presence of gingivitis (OR = 2.44, 95% CI = 0.68-8.06). This is after both models were adjusted by gender and degree of marginalization.

CONCLUSIONS: The professionals should develop interdisciplinary approaches to (i) propose appropriate interventions to improve oral health in overweight preschoolers; and (ii) propose interventions to decrease the overweight with the possibility of also reducing its association with gingivitis.