Do you think Gum Disease and Obesity has any Connection?
According to internet, obesity is defined as “The state of being grossly fat or overweight.” The body mass index (BMI) is a statistic developed by Adolphe Quetelet in the 1900’s for evaluating body mass. Counting BMI is not a rocket science, you can count it manually too the formula is: BMI=Body weight (kg) / (height (meters) x height (meters)) Ex: 163 cm height and 57 kg weight: BMI = 57 / (1.63 * 1.63) = 22.1
The range is: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Underweight = <18.5 Normal weight = 18.5–24.9 Overweight = 25–29.9 Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater. When your BMI is above 30 you are termed as Obese.
Cause: Unhealthy lifestyle: The world has become a global village now. We eat whatever is made available to us. More and more processed foods has taken over like high sugar drinks, cheese, oils etc. Eating more than our body can digest and less physical activity, due to technology advancement our physical activity has lowered which doesn’t allows us to burn the fats that we have consumed and make us grow fat months by months, year by year slowly and after certain period of time we realise that we have gained immense weight. Inactive Lifestyle: As mentioned, climbing stairs is replaced by lifts, escalators. Walking to work location is replaced by vehicles. No physical activity especially for working individuals who have only a day or two to spare in a week. So no play and only work makes everybody dull and weak. There is a math behind being an overweight or obese i.e. if you don’t burn the amount of calories you take in, then you will surely gain weight. Genes and Family History: Genes affects your body in fat saturation. Ever noticed how people have more fats stored in different parts of their body like for some their thighs has more fats, for some their waist has more fats etc. Also chances of an individual being obese, if their parents are obese is quite high.
Health Conditions and Other factors: Health conditions like Underactive thyroid, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and Cushing's syndrome etc. causes weight to gain. Basically all these are related to hormones. Many other factors like Medicines, EQ, Lack of Sleep etc. causesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; weight gain and obesity.
Obesity causes severe gums disease: Obese people have a higher concentration of adipose tissue which produces cytokines and hormones. This inflammation affect the gums and a largely inactive immune system which causes periodontitis. The inflammation reduces blood flow to the gums, after smoking, obesity is the greatest risk factor for inflammatory periodontal tissue destruction. Thus it is mandatory for a dental clinic to make BMI evaluation a regular feature as well as assessment of waist circumference. Since both these are linked to infection of the gums the periodontist needs to take into account obesity as a major factor in treatment. Obesity is vicious cycle, many bad habits brings obesity in an individual but later obesity brings on many other serious diseases with it.
This article has been written by me after a thorough research from various book, doctors and online source link mentioned below: Connection between Obesity and Gum Disease