A new study has revealed that older adults with at least 21 teeth are more likely to maintain a healthy body weight. Every missing tooth increases the risk of obesity by 2%. If a person is missing a pair of molars, it increases the risk of obesity by 7%.
This study was published in Gerdontology. In this study, researchers used the data of 1,765 adults. These adults were aged between 65 and 89 between 2016 and 2022. They mainly wanted to understand the relationship between number of teeth and body mass index (BMI). They also adjusted some factors such as age, gender and health conditions.
When researchers observed the collected data, they found that 73% of the adults participated were overweight or obese. The average number of teeth these individuals had was 20. But 45% of them had at least 21 teeth. It is the minimum required for functional chewing. They also found that front teeth that are used to bite into food did not affect weight status as back teeth did. They noticed that there was no connection between the number of front teeth lost after back teeth and BMI. This clearly shows that back teeth are very important to maintain a healthy weight. These results align with some of previous studies that suggest poor dental health is linked to weight issues.
Poor dental health is also linked to many health issues such as oral cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Researchers of this study say that oral health is very important as it can help us understand what is going on with the rest of the human body.
The results of this study clearly show that the number of teeth affects body weight. It can also increase the risk of many health complications. Hence dentists should always check some important key biomarkers like body weight and blood pressure. If they think there is a problem, they should suggest some medications to them or send them to other healthcare professionals. This will effectively reduce the risk of many health complications.
Reference Link:
Rena Zelig et al, Dentition and weight status in community‐dwelling older adults, Gerodontology (2024).
