Obesity and Periodontal Disease

Obesity is a diverse and difficult disorder to understand. The release of adipokines, which generate biologic processes, is caused by the excessive accumulation of adipose tissue in obese people. It can be prevented by recommending lifestyle adjustments and a well-balanced diet. It has well-established relationship to periodontal disease and other chronic disorders, while the underlying mechanism is still being explored. Obesity may predispose a person to periodontal disease, periodontal disease may alter lipid metabolism or both may be the case. These connections should clearly motivate the dental profession to intervene in the obesity epidemic. Obese people need to take care of their teeth and gums as well. Obesity also causes chronic diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Thus dentists plays an important role and may consider using the BMI as part of their daily practice to check patients in order to personalise preventive and therapeutic strategies.