title: The Impact of Body Mass Index on Oral Hygiene Practices of Adolescents in Bhopal City, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the impact of Body Mass Index (BMI) on oral hygiene practices of adolescents in Bhopal City, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Arts College, Bhopal, from February to March 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  Aconvenience sample of 17 - 23 years college-going adolescents from Arts College, Bhopal city was selected for the study. Self-reported questionnaire for adolescents to assess BMI and oral hygiene attitude, knowledge and practices was used. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the total study population, 53.54% (n=166) were males and 46.45% (n=144) were females. Two hundred and six (66.45%) were of optimal weight, 27.74% (n=86) were underweight and only 4.52% (n=14) were overweight. There was a significant association between BMI and oral hygiene practice of toothbrushing (p < 0.001) and mouth rinsing (p=0.001) among both male and female subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hence, BMI is significantly associated with the oral hygiene practices of adolescent population. There is growing interest in the relationship between BMI and oral health because both are significant public health concerns. These public health problems are related to common lifestyle factors such as unhealthy eating habits and smoking among children. These maladapted habits track into later life as predictors of increased BMI and oral health problems. Hence, it is required that the dentists are aware of the influence of body mass Index and lifestyle on oral health practices among children and adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, People's University, Bhopal, India.
authors.forename: Binu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Santha
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, People's University, Bhopal, India.
authors.forename: Hongal
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sudheer
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, People's University, Bhopal, India.
authors.forename: Vrinda
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, People's University, Bhopal, India.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, People's University, Bhopal, India.
authors.forename: Vidhatri
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tiwari
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data