Diet Practices, Body Mass Index, and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Adults with Periodontitis- A Case-Control Study.

Objectives: To assess and compare dietpractices, body mass index (BMI), and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in adults with and without periodontitis.

Methods: Demographics, health-related behaviors, BMI, dental and periodontal parameters, diet practices, and Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) were collected from 62periodontitis patients and 100 controls without periodontitis.

Results: Havingperiodontitis was positively associated with male sex (=0.004), older age (<0.001), smoking pack-years ( = 0.006), weight ( = 0.008), BMI ( = 0.003), number of meals per day (<0.001) and had a negative associationwithdecayed teeth ( = 0.013), alcohol ( = 0.006), and sweets ( = 0.007) consumption.Periodontitis patients were more likely to avoid carbonated beverages ( = 0.028), hot ( = 0.003), and cold drinks ( = 0.013), cold ( = 0.028), hardtextured ( = 0.002), and fibrous foods ( = 0.02) thanthe controls, and exhibited higher global OHIP-14 (<0.001) andmost domain scores. Age (<0.001), BMI ( =0.045), number of meals per day ( = 0.024), and global OHIP-14 score (<0.001) remained positivelyassociated with periodontitis in the multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: Periodontitis patients exhibitedhigher BMI and altered dietpracticesand OHRQoL as compared to controls. Assessment of diet practices, BMI,and OHRQoLshould bepart of periodontal work-up. Dentists and dietitians shouldcollaborate to design strategies to addressthese challenges.