Comparison between obesity and periodontitis status

Obesity is a disorder involving an excessive amount of body fat. People with obesity are at high risk for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and cancer. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between obesity and periodontitis status in patients who did not smoke. Participants were 36 people aged 35 to 55 years, 23 of whom were obese (intima-media thickness [IMT] >25) and 13 of whom were not (control subjects; IMT ≤ 25). The periodontitis status was reflected by pocket depth, gingival recession, and tooth loss. The Mann-Whitney U test, used to analyze the relationship between obesity and periodontitis status, revealed greater pocket depth and loss of more teeth among the non-obese participants, but there was no significant relationship between obesity and depth of the pocket or between obesity and loss of the teeth. The amount of recession was higher among obese patients than among nonobese patients. The relationship between obesity and periodontitis status was not significant. This result could have been affected by local factors such as plaque and oral trauma. Our tool for measuring obesity was body mass index modified for Indonesia. Further study with other obesity measurements are needed to clarify our results.