MedPage Today (5/17, Minerd) reports that “patients with excess weight may be at increased risk for severe periodontal disease, and inflammation may be the culprit,” suggests an epidemiological study published in Oral Diseases. After adjusting for several factors, such as age, gender, smoking, and physical activity, the study found individuals with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 25 had “more than quadruple the risk for severe periodontitis” than individuals with a BMI of less than 23. The study authors wrote, “Obesity may modify the response of the host to the antigens derived from bacterial plaque and therefore cause disturbances in the inflammatory response during the process of periodontal disease.” The researchers noted the study does not suggest causality, and other limitations include a small sample size.
The New York Daily News (5/17, Dziemianowicz) reports that the study involved “160 subjects and observed oral health along with body mass index.” The article reports that the study found that “even subjects with a BMI of 23 were worse off when it came to severe periodontitis, inflammatory dental diseases, and infection-fighting leukocyte counts.”
Food Navigator (5/17, Chu) reports that although some studies on periodontitis have suggested a “relationship between BMI and the prevalence of periodontal diseases,” other studies have found “significant results only for probing depth and the plaque index, but not for periodontitis or missing teeth.”