Medicine & Health
Tooth Loss: A Potential Side Effect of Obesity By Hannah Koceja
S
tress eating, decrease in outdoor activity, and higher food insecurity - causing Americans to eat poorer quality foods - are factors heightened by the 2020 pandemic that caused the obesity rate to go over 40% in 2020.1 The obesity rate in 2020 was 42.4% for American adults, 26% higher than in 2008.1 For the past decade, the U.S. adult obesity rate has been leaning towards 40%; however, the rate did not go over 40% until after 2019.1 With obesity comes a number of health risks, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, but other lesser known side effects are still present and should not be neglected by the media. One such side effect being found is tooth loss. Cristiano Susin, DDS, MSD, PhD, is an associate professor in the Division of Comprehensive Oral Health and chair of UNC Chapel Hill’s Department of Periodontology since
Figure 2: Missing tooth X ray Photo taken by Theodor Negru
2018. In his most recent study located in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Dr. Susin along with 6 other researchers conducted research showing that obese individuals were significantly more likely to experience tooth loss over nonobese individuals. Since 2001, Dr. Susin has aided research in the Porto Alegre study to provide evidence that a legitimate correlation between obesity and tooth loss exists; the study was finalized and then published in 2020. Obesity is thought to possibly cause periodontitis, or inflammatory gum disease, which can eventually lead to tooth loss.⁴ However, little research showing the direct connection between obesity and tooth loss has been conducted on this topic prior to Dr. Susin’s study. Research has implied that obesity can cause tooth loss but, since few studies were carried out, the obesity health risk of tooth loss was never widespread in the media. Dr. Susin and
Figure 1: Tooth loss graph regarding to sex, periodontitis, and smoking. Photo by original research journal article
14
