The relationship of obesity to the timing of permanent tooth emergence in Czech children

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of BMI on the timing of permanent tooth emergence in Czech children.

Objectives: In this cross-sectional study, 1370 Czech children were examined. The age, gender, weight, height, all emerged permanent teeth (except third molars) of each child were all recorded. A tooth is defined as having emerged when at least any part of it has penetrated the gingiva.

Methods: A logistic regression model was used to calculate the median emergence age per tooth for both genders separately and BMI was used as a factor variable to detect statistically significant differences in the times of tooth emergence within pairs of BMI groups. The data were statistically processed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).

Results: Statistically significant differences were found for the following permanent teeth (using the FDI two-digit system): 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 33, 35, 37, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27 for girls and 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 41, 43, 44, 45, 22, 25, 32, 34, 35, 36 for boys. These teeth were observed to emerge earlier in obese children. A similar correlation (although not statistically significant) was observed between the time of emergence of the remaining teeth and the BMI of the child.

Conclusion: The data in this research highlight significant differences in emergence times of permanent teeth due to the influence of BMI in Czech children. These findings are important for dental treatment planning.

Keywords:

• Obesity
• BMI
• tooth emergence
• permanent teeth
• Czech children

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the Charles University, project GA UK no. 4884/2017, by PROGRES Q29/1.LF and by project GACR no. 14-37368G.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.