ArticleBMC oral health2025
The relationship between Body Mass Index and dental anxiety among pediatric patients in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC oral health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dental fear and anxiety and its sociodemographic associations among public and private schoolchildren aged 8 to 12 years in Depok, Indonesia: a cross-sectional study.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- Dental Anxiety as a Potential Bottleneck in Oral-Systemic Health Pathways: A Conceptual Mapping Review of Review Articles.Dentistry journal · 2026Review
- Behavioral Determinants in Pediatric Dentistry: A Comparative Analysis of Cooperative Versus Uncooperative Patients.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Predicting Dental Anxiety and Cooperative Behavior in Children Using Machine Learning: A Cross-Sectional Predictive Modeling Study.Dentistry journal · 2026Article
- Assessment of Dental Fear and Anxiety Tools for Children: A Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundStudies suggested a relationship between anxiety and Body Mass Index (BMI). However, dental anxiety and BMI was not previously investigated. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the impact of BMI levels on dental anxiety and behavior among pediatric patients.
methodsChildren 6-11 years attending four-referral centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and their parents were interrogated. The BMI level scores, child's behavior (Frankel's classification) and dental-anxiety (Abeer Dental Anxiety Scale (ACDAS)) were evaluated.
resultsOut of 952 children participated in this study, 496 (52.1%) had normal BMI, 264 (27.7%) had high BMI (overweight), and 192 (20.2%) had low BMI (underweight). Regression analysis found that overweight was significantly associated with an increased adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of dental anxiety (AOR = 3.018) and uncooperative dental behavior (AOR = 8.714) with p < 0.001. Also, statistically significant increase in the odds ratio (OR) of the child feeling shy in the clinic (P = 0.002; OR:2.113) and parents/operators reporting child behaving scared (P = 0.004; OR:1.985 and p < 0.001; OR:3.03, respectively) when overweight compared to normal-weight.
conclusionsThis study highlights the impact of overweight on the emotional and behavioral dimensions of the child's dental experience as they significantly increased the probability of dental anxiety and uncooperative behavior by three and eight times, respectively.
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