Association of long-term obesity and weight gain with periodontal pocketing: Results of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study

Aim To investigate whether obesity, central obesity, and weight gain are associated with periodontal pocketing. Materials and methods A never-smoking sub-population (n = 725) of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 was categorized based on body mass index (BMI; participants with normal weight, overweight, and obesity) and waist circumference (WC; participants without central obesity and with central obesity) at ages 31 and 46. The categories were combined to define whether the participants stayed in the respective BMI and WC categories or moved on to a higher category during follow-up. A periodontal examination was done at age 46. Results WC was more consistently associated with periodontal pocketing than BMI. The relative risks for the number of sites with periodontal pocket depth (PPD) >= 4 mm and bleeding PPD >= 4 mm in participants with central obesity both at age 31 and at age 46 were 1.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-2.0) and 2.1 (95% CI 1.6-2.6). The corresponding values for participants who had no central obesity at age 31 but had central obesity at age 46 were 1.6 (95% CI 1.4-1.8) and 1.9 (95% CI 1.6-2.3). Conclusion Of all the studied measures, central obesity appeared to be most strongly associated with the inflammatory condition of the periodontium.