Childhood body mass index is associated with early dental development and eruption in a longitudinal sample from the Iowa Facial Growth Study.

INTRODUCTION: Children with high body mass index (BMI) values have been demonstrated to have precocious dental development. Research has largely focused on cross-sectional data sets, leaving an incomplete understanding of the longitudinal relationship between BMI and dental maturation.

METHODS: We used a pure longitudinal growth series to examine the relationship between dental development and childhood BMI. Periapical radiographs from 77 children from the Iowa Growth Study were used to estimate dental development for those with high BMI values.

RESULTS: We confirmed prior studies in finding that children with higher BMI values were more likely to have advanced dental development for their ages (P <0.001). BMI at age 4 years was predictive for the timing of dental development at age 12 (P = 0.052). The precocity of the rate of dental development accelerated across growth. Overall dental development scores also correlated with the age of dental eruption for the mandibular canines and first premolars (P <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: High BMI values at young ages predict advanced dental development at later times, suggesting a long-term effect of BMI on dental maturation and implying the need for earlier orthodontic interventions in obese children. These results corroborate those of previous studies, building further evidence that relatively early dental eruption is another consequence of childhood obesity.