ArticlePloS one2013
Obesity and dental decay: inference on the role of dietary sugar.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trends in dental caries of deciduous teeth in Iran: a systematic analysis of the national and sub-national data from 1990 to 2017.BMC oral health · 2022Pooled it
- Selecting Risk of Bias Tools for Observational Studies for a Systematic Review of Anthropometric Measurements and Dental Caries among Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Determinants of dental caries in children in the Middle East and North Africa region: a systematic review based on literature published from 2000 to 2019.BMC oral health · 2021Pooled it
- The salivary microbiome is altered in the presence of a high salivary glucose concentration.PloS one · 2017Trial
- Obesity and Dental Caries: A State-of-the-Art Review of Shared Risk Factors, Biological Mechanisms and Current Evidence.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Body mass index, physical activity and dental caries: cross-sectional HUNT4 oral health study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Diabetes and oral health: A comparative cross-sectional analysis of DMFT index among diabetic, pre-diabetic, and non-diabetic adults.PloS one · 2025Article
- Obesity and dental caries in Saudi Arabia: a correlated study.BMC oral health · 2024Article
- Relationship Between Body Mass Index (BMI) and Severity of Caries Among Primary School Children: A Scoping Review.Cureus · 2024Article
- Burden of oral diseases predicts development of excess weight in early adolescence: a 2-year longitudinal study.European journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Dental caries and associated factors among preschool children in Southwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2024Article
- Comparing individual-, family-, and community-level effects on the oral health of preschool children: a multilevel analysis of national survey data.BMC oral health · 2023Observational
- Beverage consumption and obesity in Kuwaiti school children.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Association between Frequency of Toothbrushing and Metabolic Syndrome among Adolescents: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Associations between dental caries and systemic diseases: a scoping review.BMC oral health · 2021Article
- Anthropometric Status, Diet, and Dental Caries among Schoolchildren.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Childhood malnutrition and hypo mineralized molar defects ;a cross sectional study, Egypt.F1000Research · 2021Article
- The Socioeconomic Inequality in Increment of Caries and Growth among Chinese Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- A twin study of body mass index and dental caries in childhood.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Relationship between Obesity and Dental Caries in Saudi Male Adolescents.International journal of dentistry · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the relationship of children's obesity and dental decay.
methodsWe measured parameters related to obesity and dental decay in 8,275 4(th) and 5(th) grade Kuwaiti children (average age = 11.36 years) in a cross-sectional study. First to determine body weight, height, age for computation of BMI . Second, to determine numbers of teeth, numbers of fillings and numbers of untreated decayed teeth to determine extent and severity of dental disease. From these measurements, we computed measures of dental decay in children from four body weight categories; obese, overweight, normal healthy weight and underweight children.
resultsThe percentage of children with decayed or filled teeth varied inversely with the body weight category. The percentage of decayed or filled teeth decreased from 15.61% (n=193) in underweight children, to 13.03% (n=4,094) in normal healthy weight children, to 9.73% (n=1,786) in overweight children to 7.87% (n=2,202) in obese children. Differences between all groups were statistically significant. Male children in this population had more dental decay than female children but the reduction of tooth decay as a function of BMI was greater in male children.
conclusionsThe finding of an inverse obesity-dental decay relationship contradicts the obesity-sugar and the obesity-dental decay relationship hypotheses. Sugar is well recognized as necessary and sufficient for dental decay. Sugar is also hypothesized to be a leading co-factor in obesity. If the later hypothesis is true, one would expect dental decay to increase with obesity. This was not found. The reasons for this inverse relationship are not currently clear.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.