title: Caries experience and its association with weight status among 8-year-old children in Qingdao, China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Childhood obesity/underweight status and caries are both important public health problems. This study aims to investigate the caries status and its association with body weight in 8-year-old children in Qingdao, China.
  
  
  METHODS
  We initiated a cross-sectional investigation on 744 children aged 8 years during the Oral Health Survey in 2012. Dental caries assessments were carried out and weight status was recorded accordingly. The resulting caries status including caries prevalence, dmft (deciduous dentition), and (dmft + DMFT) (mixed dentition), as well as BMI indices were analyzed for comparison and correlation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of dental caries among the 744 children aged 8 years participating in this survey was 86.3%. The caries status represented by dmft (deciduous dentition) and (dmft + DMFT) (mixed dentition) values was 4.31 and 4.85, respectively, and the restoration rate was extremely low, which was no more than 3.0%. Significant difference was found in dmft/(dmft + DMFT) values between different BMI groups, and underweight individuals were found to have the highest dmft/(dmft + DMFT) value. An inverse relationship between body BMI and dmft/(dmft + DMFT) index was identified based on Pearson's correlation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A severe state of caries disease was revealed in 8-year-old children in the Chinese city of Qingdao, for whom urgent dental intervention and treatment were needed. Furthermore, underweight individuals were found with the most severe caries experience, indicating caries may affect the development and growth of the afflicted children. Thus, more emphasis should be placed on improving their dental health, with caries prevention being given the priority.
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Jiangbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Shulan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Zhenggang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Dawei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Jiefeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Oral Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Exiang
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guo
keywords: Caries; cross-sectional survey; epidemic survey; obesity; weight