Association between Body Mass Index and Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) in 12-year-old School Children

The body mass index (BMI) helps assess weight and height. Tooth decay is a multifactorial and infectious disease that causes demineralization of the teeth and has a high worldwide prevalence. The study aimed to evaluate the association between the body mass index (BMI) and the decay, missing, and filled teeth index (DMFT) in schoolchildren from the Bellavista parish, Cuenca, Ecuador.

A cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach was conducted. Data regarding age, sex, weight, and height, were collected from 426 school children in the Bellavista parish, according to WHO standards.

The whole sample mean of BMI was 20.91 (SD 4.2) and the mean DMFT was 2.44(SD 2.3). The analysis conducted using the Fisher-Freeman-Halton test, did not show a significant association between BMI and the DMFT index (p=0.648). When segmented by sex, no relevant differences were found with (p=0.634 for males; p=0.420 for females). Despite the lack of statistical significance, it was observed that schoolchildren who were underweight were the most affected by dental caries with DMFT value of 2.88 (DS 1.73) while obese were the less affected by dental caries with DMFT 2.00(SD 1.98).

There is no association between DMFT and BMI.