Comparison of two visual methods for detecting caries among obese and non-obese children

• Published in: Acta odontologica Scandinavica Vol. 74; no. 5; p. 405
• Main Authors: Ferraz, Eduardo Gomes, Silva, Luciana Rodrigues, Sarmento, Viviane Almeida, de Jesus Campos, Elisângela, de Oliveira, Thaís Feitosa Leitão, Magalhães, Juliana Cunha, Paraguassú, Gardênia Matos, Boa-Sorte, Ney
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 03-07-2016
• Subjects: Adolescent; Body Mass Index; Case-Control Studies; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dental Caries - classification; Dental Caries - diagnosis; Dental Enamel - pathology; Dental Fissures - classification; Dental Fissures - diagnosis; Dentin - pathology; DMF Index; Female; Humans; Male; Obesity - complications; dental caries; Body mass index; obesity; child
• ISSN: 1502-3850
• DOI: 10.3109/00016357.2016.1169555

The study aimed to compare two visual methods for detecting caries among obese and non-obese children in Salvador, Brazil.
A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2011-2012, which evaluated 180 paediatric patients, 6-14 years old, girls and boys, categorized into two groups: obese and non-obese (healthy weight), according to the body mass index. For the evaluation of dental caries, the decayed, missing or filled teeth index (DMFT/dmft) and International Caries Detection and Assessment System II (ICDAS II) visual criteria were used.
The mean DMFT value was 0.98 in obese children and 0.57 in the non-obese children, without significant differences between groups (p = 0.206). The mean dmft value in the non-obese children (1.66) was higher than in obese children (0.95), with significant differences between groups (p = 0.021). According to ICDAS II criteria, there was a higher prevalence of non-cavitated enamel lesions (D1-3) in obese children (n = 156, 10.5%) compared to the non-obese children (n = 55, 1.9%), with significant differences between the groups (p < 0.001).
The inclusion of non-cavitated lesions during the caries evaluation represents a challenge in diagnosis, which allows for control of this process before the evolution of these lesions to cavitation.