Nutritional Status is Associated with Permanent Tooth Eruption in a Group of Brazilian School Children

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the association between nutritional status with delayed tooth eruption (DTE). Oral examination was performed in schoolchildren (8-11 years old), and DTE was defined by absence of dental gingival emergence or when primary tooth was still present in the oral cavity after the expected time. BMI <i>z</i>-score of each child were collected and nutritional status was defined. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression adjusted by age and gender were performed. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) were calculated. The established alpha was 5%. Among 353 included children, 247 were classified as eutrophic, 16 as underweight, 64 as overweight, and 26 as obese. Underweight was associated as a risk factor to DTE (<i>P</i> = .014; OR = 3.5; 95% CI = 1.3-9.8), and underweight girls had more chance to present DTE than eutrophic girls (<i>P</i> = .048; OR = 4.4; 95% CI = 1.1-17.2) in chi square test. In logistic regression, underweight was associated as a risk factor to DTE (OR = 4.21; CI 95% = 1.42-12.43; <i>P</i> = .009). Underweight children have a higher risk of DTE in permanents.