Abstract
Despite sufficient knowledge of good oral hygiene habits, dental students still suffer from oral health problems owing to dietary habits, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle. This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate an association of BMI (body mass index), diet, physical activity, and oral hygiene practices with DMFT (decayed, missing, and filled teeth) of male dental students and interns at King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, from August to September 2020. One hundred and eighty-five male participants completed the study questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic information and nineteen close-ended questions about current diet, physical activity, and oral hygiene practices. Students’ height (cm) and weight (kg) were measured to calculate BMI. The principal investigator performed the oral clinical examinations for the DMFT status in the dental clinic. The chi-square test was used for the dichotomous variables and a t-test was used for the continuous variables. Linear and multinomial logistic regression were performed to detect the significant predictors of the DMFT score. The mean age of participants was 22.29 ± 2.13 years, and the BMI was 24.94 ± 3.36 (Kg/m2). Parents’ higher education and income levels were significantly (p < 0.001) associated with a higher BMI. Most dietary variables, especially sugar products, and low physical activity, were significantly (<0.047) associated with higher BMI. All oral hygiene practices, except miswak and mouthwash, were significantly (<0.003) associated with higher BMI. Decayed and missing teeth were significantly (<0.001) higher in the overweight and obese. A simple linear regression analysis demonstrated association between BMI and decayed teeth, with an R = 0.35 (<0.001); BMI and missing teeth had an R = 0.12 (p = 0.867); BMI and filled teeth had an R = 0.15 (p = 0.033), and BMI with DMFT had an R = 0.33 ((<0.001). This study demonstrated a strong significant association of the decayed and missing teeth with higher BMI levels. In addition, BMI was significantly associated with diet and physical activity, despite acceptable oral hygiene practices.
Highlights
It is desirable that future dentists should eat healthy food and maintain a good oral hygiene, in order to convince their patient to acquire a healthy lifestyle and adequate oral hygiene [26]. In light of this background, the present study aimed to evaluate an association of Body Mass Index (BMI), diet, physical activity, and oral hygiene practices with DMFT
The purpose of our study was to assess the association between body mass index (BMI), dietary habits, and oral hygiene practices, based on DMFT index among male dental students at King Faisal University, Al Ahsa
As opposed to the results reported by Idrees et al [4], who claimed that no significant correlation was found between the severity of dental caries and BMI categories
Summary
Despite having sufficient knowledge of good oral hygiene habits, they still suffer from oral health problems, owing to obesity, lifestyle, and possibly study pressure [1]. According to WHO, 1.9 billion adults with an age of 18 years and above, throughout the world, were found to be overweight in 2016, and out of these 650 million were obese. Increasing prevalence of obesity is considered to be a significant public health problem in Saudi Arabia [3]. Physical inactivity and overweight are, respectively, found to be the fourth and fifth major causes of mortality worldwide, and are considered to be the leading risk factor for other systemic diseases like cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, and cancers of the liver, colon, and prostate [5]
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