Obesity and periodontal disease in diabetic pregnant women

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigated the impact of pregestational overweight and obesity on periodontal status of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Sixty pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were recruited for the study. According to the pregestational body mass index (BMI), patients were classified into 3 groups: normal, overweight or obese. The periodontal assessment parameters were the presence of gingival bleeding (GB) and bleeding on probing (BOP) per tooth. Clinical attachment loss (CAL) was assessed per tooth and classified according to following values: 1) absence of attachment loss; 2) between 1 and 2 mm, 3) between 3 and 5 mm; and 4) CAL > or = 6 mm. The means of individual percentage of teeth with GB and BOP and the means of the individual classified values of CAL were compared through ANOVA. Differences between the groups were established through post hoc Bonferroni test for multiple comparisons (p < 0.05). The analysis revealed significant differences between the normal group and the obese group considering GB (52.76% +/- 27.99% and 78.85% +/- 27.44%, respectively) and CAL (2.21 +/- 0.41 and 2.61 +/- 0.54, respectively). Although an increase was found in BOP as the BMI increased (ranging from 55.65% to 75.31%), no statistically significant differences were found among the groups. Patients with GDM and pregestational obesity had significantly more gingivitis and periodontal attachment loss that those with normal pregestational BMI. Periodontal treatment should be considered in the establishment of future recommendations for metabolic control for this special group of patients.