Oral Health Condition in Overweight Preschoolers Concepción, Chile

Lorena Bravo Rivera; Francisca Torres Chianale; Claudia Fierro Monti & María Antonieta Pérez Flores

Summary

Obesity is a public health problem in Chile nowadays. Excess malnutrition includes children that are overweight and obese. There is a causal relationship between refined carbohydrate consumption and cavities. We propose that excess malnutrition could be an indicator for cavities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate oral health in preschool children with excess malnutition diagnosis, determining ceo indexes and oral hygene, gender, and analyzing frecuency of tooth brushing and diet. Data from 20 children from CESFAM Víctor Manuel Fernández in Concepción, Chile were collected. Oral examination was performend on all children, with plaque revelation, diet survey and registration of tooth brushing frequency. Statistic analysis was done by the U de Mann-Witney non parametric test. Ceo index was 2.67 (SD±1.87) for boys, and 5,1 (SD±2.64) for girls, showing significant statistic difference in oral hygiene index, dietary habits and tooth brushing frequency showed no significant differences between groups. KEY WORDS: oral health, preschools, overweight, obesity.

How to cite this article

BRAVO, R. L.; TORRES, C. F.; FIERRO, M. C. & PÉREZ, F. M. A. Oral health condition in overweight preschoolers Concepción, Chile. Int. J. Odontostomat., 4(3):267-270, 2010.