How does being overweight impact children’s teeth?

The answer may surprise you.  While being overweight or obese increases the risk for many diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and heart disease, the impact on teeth seems to be different.  A recent NY Times article reports that overweight children have healthier teeth than normal weight children do.  The report is based on research conducted by the Eastman Dental Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center.   However, do not run out and by candy bars and Cokes for dinner quite yet:

“The findings don’t mean being overweight protects teeth, but they do raise questions about the differences in foods eaten by overweight children compared to their normal weight peers. It also debunks the stereotype of the overweight child who binges on cavity-causing candy and sugary foods. One theory is that overweight children may actually be eating fewer cavity-causing sweets than normal weight kids and instead overeating fatty foods.”

Nevertheless, the results surprised the researchers who also acknowledge that more search needs to be done:

“We expected to find more oral disease in overweight children of all ages, given the similar causal factors that are generally associated with obesity and caries,” said Eastman Dental Center’s Dr. Dorota Kopycka-Kedzierawski, the lead author. “Our findings raise more questions than answers. Research to analyze both diet and lifestyle is needed to better understand the results.”

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student Chris Hartnett for preparing this post.