Prevalence of Oral Diseases and the Influence of the Presence of Overweight/Obesity in Schoolchildren Population in Mallorca

Abstract

[eng] Abstract: Background: The pediatric population is one of the social groups most affected by oral pathology, and overweight and/or obesity is increasingly frequently observed. This work presents a study of the prevalence of oral disease in the school population in Mallorca and its relationship with overweight/obesity. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 718 students aged 5–6 (n = 255), 12 (n = 230) and 15 years (n = 233). The WHO criteria for diagnosing and coding examined teeth and overweight/obesity prevalence values. To explore the differences in data, the mean was analyzed using the Student’s t-test or a one-way analysis of variance followed by the Bonferroni post hoc analysis. Results: Results found that students aged 15 years have a caries prevalence rate of 45.49%, higher than those aged 12 (27.39%). The presence of dental calculus in 15-year-old students is 52.8%, even higher than in 12-year-olds (30%). Students aged 6 and 12 with lower weight percentiles have fewer healthy teeth than those with higher percentiles. Conclusions: The schoolchildren have experienced a decrease in caries and an increase in periodontitis, with weight percentile potentially influencing the number of healthy teeth. Keywords: caries; periodontal disease; overweight; obesity.