Association between body mass index and dental caries in 19-59 years age group of suburban population of north kolkata, wb

Background: Oral diseases, especially dental caries has high rate of prevalence in most developing countries. The primary cause of this condition is an imbalance between calorie intake and calorie consumption. Because dental caries is associated with poor dietary habits and inappropriate diets promote obesity, this study was conducted to find out whether Body Mass Index affects the prevalence of dental caries. Methods: Based on a pilot study, sample size calculation was performed. A total of 198 patients of 19-59 years age group attending the outpatient department of Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics were randomly selected for the study. Dental caries was scored using DMFT index. BMI was calculated according to the formula: weight (kg)/height2 (m2) Results: The DMFT index scores were relatively different among the different BMI groups, in which normal weight individuals revealed the highest value and underweight showed the lowest value and the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, no statistically significant association between BMI and dental caries prevalence was found. For more conclusive results to be extrapolated to a larger population, further studies need to be conducted on higher sample size.