Background: Obesity was found to be significantly associated with periodontal disease prevalence as measured by probing depth and clinical attachment loss. The aim of this study was to examine if obesity correlates with chronic periodontitis as diagnosed by radiographic alveolar bone loss.
Method: Four hundred subjects > or =18 years old were included; 200 with body mass index (BMI) > or =30 kg/m2 (obese) and 200 with BMI < 25 kg/m2 (non-obese). Alveolar bone loss was determined from full mouth radiographs for each subject. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of obesity and periodontitis.
Results: Obesity was found to be significantly associated with periodontitis in the uni-variate regression analysis (OR = 2.37, 95% CI, 1.55-3.63). After adjusting for age, gender, smoking, employment, diabetes, marital status, and number of teeth present, obese subjects were found to be 1.86 times more likely to have periodontitis (95% CI, 0.99-3.51) than non-obese ones. When the sample was stratified based on age, the multivariate association was statistically significant among individuals < 40 years of age (OR = 2.67, 95% CI, 1.09-6.58) while among individuals > or = 40 years of age the association was statistically insignificant (OR = 1.06, 95% CI, 0.57-1.95). Stratifying the sample based on gender and smoking status revealed a stronger association among females than males (OR = 3.14 vs. 1.95) and among non-smokers than smokers (OR = 3.36 vs. 2.22).
Conclusions: Obesity is associated with increased prevalence of periodontitis as measured by radiographic alveolar bone loss, especially among younger individuals. Prevention and management of obesity may be considered to promote better systemic and periodontal health.