한국치위생학회

Effects of obesity on dental caries in adolescents of 13-18 years

Eun-Sun Lee1   Soo-Hwa Kim1,*   

Department of Dental Hygiene, Hanyang Women’s University

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between obesity and dental caries of Korean adolescents. Methods: Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES Ⅵ) (2013 to 2015) were used and targeted adolescents aged 13 to 18 years. For statistical analysis, the SPSS 18.0 program was used, and the significance level was set at 0.05. Results: For the general and health-related characteristics, female students (p=0.001) showed higher decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index than male students. Furthermore, DMFT showed higher tendency, as age was higher (p<0.001). Smoking (p=0.011) and drinking experience (p=0.027) revealed higher DMFT. The dental caries experience was significantly different among students who were female (p=0.033), older (p=0.001), and overweight or underweight (p=0.022). In the BMI for the general and health-related characteristics, male students had higher obesity rate than female students (p=0.003), and obese subjects had higher dental checkup in the last year (p=0.013). In multiple linear regression analysis of obesity and DMFT, the unadjusted model showed that the obesity group’s DMFT was about 0.8 higher than that of the normal group (p=0.024). However, statistical significance was not shown in the adjusted models. In the logistic regression analysis of obesity and dental caries experience, the unadjusted model 1 (1.93 times), the adjusted model 2 (1.79 times), and model 3 (1.76 times) showed significantly higher dental caries experience. Conclusions: Both obesity and dental caries are related to diet habits and lifestyles and have a negative impact on adult health. Therefore, it is necessary to create a healthy social environment around the adolescent, and proper intervention through education is required to form healthy habits.

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