Overweight/obesity and dental caries in Brazilian children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This review aimed to assess the association between overweight/obesity and dental caries in Brazilian children/adolescents. Searches were performed in the Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, databases up to June 2022. The Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for analytical cross-sectional studies, the checklist for cohort studies, and the checklist for case-control studies were used. A total of 41 publications were included, and 15 meta-analyses were performed. The authors analyzed the differences in weighted mean difference (MD) and odds ratios (OR), and their corresponding confidence intervals (CI) (95%) for dental caries among eutrophic and obese and/or overweight children/adolescents. Meta-analyses showed that there was no association between overweight and/or obesity and dental caries in Brazilian children/adolescents for most anthropometric reference curves using BMI (Body Mass Index). A greater experience of dental caries was associated with well-nourished adolescents in permanent dentition, compared with obese individuals in the same dentition, as classified by the CDC 2000 curve (OR = 2.53, 95% CI;1.49-4.29; p = 0.0006; I2 = 0%) in dichotomous outcome studies, and (MD = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.08-1.15; p = 0.02; I2 = 0%) in continuous studies. The strength of the evidence of the results was classified as very low, low or moderate. It was concluded that there is no association between overweight and/or obesity and dental caries in Brazilian children/adolescents for most anthropometric reference curves using BMI. A greater experience of dental caries was associated with well-nourished adolescents in permanent dentition, compared with obese individuals in the same dentition, as classified by the CDC 2000 curve.