The Relationship between BMI-for-age (BMI-%) and dmft Index of 6-year-Old Children in Rafsanjan, Iran

Objectives: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether there is a relationship between dmft (decayed, missing and filled primary teeth) index and Body Mass Index for age (BMI-%) in 6-year-old children. Study design: A census sample of 2197 healthy children(51.1% boys/48.9% girls) aged 72-84 months with a mean age of 77.52 ± 3.49 months was included. The dmft index and BMI-%were obtained for each child.The data was analyzed by chi-square, Mann-Whitney, KruskalWallis, Spearman's rho coefficient tests (p ≤ 0.05). Results: The mean and SD of BMI-% was 15.21 ± 2.08 with a distribution of underweight (18.0%), healthy weight (69.9%), overweight (5.9%) and obese were (6.2%) per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. The mean and SD of dmft index was 6.27 ± 3.76; this variable according to BMI-%categories were 7.18 ± 3.81 (underweight), 6.30 ± 3.77 (healthy), 4.89 ± 3.28 (overweight) and 4.51 ± 3.01 (obese). There was a significant inverse relationship between BMI-% scores and dmft index and decayed teeth. There was also a positive relationship between BMI% scores and students that were caries free. Conclusions: An inverse relationship between BMI-% and dmft index, and a positive relationship between BMI-% and being caries free was observed.