J Bagh College Dentistry Vol. 25(3), September 2013 Caries experience Pedodontics, Orthodontics and Preventive Dentistry130 Caries experience and salivary physicochemical characteristics among overweight intermediate school females aged 13-15 years in Babylon – Iraq Aseel I. Mohammed, B.D.S. (1) Ban S. Diab, B.D.S., M.Sc., Ph.D. (2) ABSTRACT Ba c kg ro und : O b e sity is a se rio us p ub lic he a lth c o nc e rn tha t ha s re a c he d e p id e m ic p ro p o rtio ns; the p re va le nc e , a s w e ll a s the se ve rity o f o b e sity in a d o le sc e nts is inc re a sing a t a n a la rm ing ra te . A c lo se re la tio nship w a s fo und b e tw e e n w e ig ht sta tus a nd d e nta l c a rie s. Thus this re se a rc h a im e d to a sse ss the p re va le nc e a nd se ve rity o f d e nta l c a rie s a m o ng o ve rw e ig ht a d o le sc e nt fe m a le s in re la tio n to p hysic o c he m ic a l c ha ra c te ristic s o f stim ula te d w ho le sa liva in c o m p a riso n w ith no rm a l we ig ht a d o le sc e nt fe m a le s. Ma te ria ls a nd m e tho d s: The to ta l sa m p le invo lve d fo r nutritio na l sta tus a sse ssm e nt is c o m p o se d o f 2678 fe m a le s a g e d 13-15 ye a rs. This w a s p e rfo rm e d using Bo d y Ma ss Ind e x sp e c ific fo r a g e a nd g e nd e r a c c o rd ing to C DC g ro w th c ha rt (2000). The d ia g no sis a nd re c o rd ing o f d e nta l c a rie s wa s b y using De c a y, Missing , Fille d surfa c e ind e x (DMFs); a nd a c c o rd ing to the c rite ria o f Ma nji e t a l (1989). Sa liva ry sa m p le s w e re c o lle c te d fro m 30 o ve rw e ig ht fe m a le s a nd the ir c o ntro l und e r sta nd a rd ize d c o nd itio ns a nd the n a na lyze d fo r m e a suring sa liva ry flo w ra te a nd visc o sity, in a d d itio n to e stim a tio n e sse ntia l e le m e nts (zinc , c o p p e r, c a lc ium , iro n, a nd to ta l p ro te in). Re sults: The c a rie s e xp e rie nc e a m o ng the o ve rw e ig ht fe m a le s w a s lo w e r tha n tha t a m o ng the no rm a l w e ig ht w ith no n sig nific a nt d iffe re nc e . Sa liva ry a na lysis d e m o nstra te d tha t the sa liva ry flo w ra te w a s no n sig nific a ntly hig he r a mo ng o ve rwe ig ht fe ma le s. The visc o sity o f sa liva wa s ha ving a n e q ua l va lue a mo ng b o th g ro up s. The d a ta a na lysis o f sa liva ry e le m e nts fo und tha t the zinc a nd c o p p e r c o nc e ntra tio ns w e re hig hly sig nific a nt hig he r a m o ng the o ve rw e ig ht fe m a le s tha n tha t a m o ng the no rm a l w e ig ht. The o p p o site re sult fo und c o nc e rning sa liva ry c a lc ium le ve l w ith a lso hig hly sig nific a nt d iffe re nc e ; w hile the iro n a nd to ta l p ro te in w e re no n sig nific a ntly lo w e r a m o ng the o ve rw e ig ht fe m a le s. DMFs a nd its g ra d e s c o rre la te d ne g a tive ly w e a k w ith sa liva ry flo w ra te a m o ng o ve rw e ig ht fe m a le s; w hile c o nc e rning sa liva ry visc o sity, the c o rre la tio n w a s d ire c t w e a k w ith DMFs. Sa liva ry c o p p e r, c a lc ium a nd to ta l p ro te in sho w e d a n inve rse c o rre la tio n w ith d e nta l c a rie s. C o nc lusio n: The re sults o f the c urre nt re se a rc h re ve a le d tha t o ve rw e ig ht a ffe c t the c a rie s e xp e rie nc e . Se ve ra l o f sa liva ry fa c to rs tha t fo und to b e hig he r a m o ng the o ve rw e ig ht fe m a le s m ig ht p la y a ro le in p ro te c tio n o f te e th fro m d e nta l c a rie s. Key words: o ve rw e ig ht, a d o le sc e nts, d e nta l c a rie s. (J Bagh Coll Dentistry 2013; 25(3):130-133). INTRODUCTION Obesity or overweight is a complex, multifactorial disease that develops from the interaction between genotype and the environment (1) . A form of low grade, systemic inflammation is linked to many types of chronic disease which associated with obesity (2, 3) . Dental caries and obesity epidemics are multifactorial complex diseases and the dietary pattern is a common underlying etiologic factor in their causation (4) . The term dental caries is used to describe the signs and symptoms of a localized chemical dissolution of the tooth surface caused by metabolic events taking place in the biofilm (dental plaque) covering the affected area; and the destruction can affect enamel, dentin and cementum (5) . Researches which studied the relation between dental caries and overweight found a controversy (6-8) . Saliva can be useful method in the evaluation of caries risk as well as in the diagnosis of other diseases (9) ; as, optimum salivary flow rate is responsible for establishing (1) Master student, Department of Paedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Baghdad. (2) Assistant professor, Department of Paedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Baghdad. protective environment against dental caries (10) . Moreover, salivary composition also have essential role in dental caries occurrence (11-13) . The global steady increase in the prevalence of adolescents overweight leads to inclination to know the prevalence of adolescent overweight in Iraq, in relation to oral health status and physicochemical properties of saliva; these reasons guided to designing this research. MATERIALS AND METHODS The sample size composed of 2678 females; they were distributed in secondary schools of Hilla center which randomly selected from different areas and represented 5% of the number of intermediate schools of Hilla center. The whole females aged 13-15 year old attending the selected secondary schools were examined for nutritional status assessment (BMI); then the overweight females and their age matching females from the same class were examined for the oral health status assessment. Then subgroups of 30 females from both overweight and normal weight groups were randomly selected for salivary analysis. The caries experience was recorded according to decay, missing, filled index (DMFs); and by using