Paediatric dentists' identification and management of underweight and overweight children

Introduction: Dental caries and obesity are growing challenges for the NHS. Dentists are in the unique position of being able to identify both conditions and intervene, following UK government strategy of 'making every contact count'. Aims: Identify specialists in paediatric dentistry's (SPD) current practice regarding diagnosis and management of underweight or overweight/obese children presenting to dental services. Materials and methods: An online survey was emailed to the UK SPD group. Questions investigated whether height, weight or body mass index (BMI) were measured, actions taken, and dentists' feelings regarding their role. Results: 49/118 (42%) SPDs responded. All felt they had a responsibility to identify underweight or overweight/obese children. Around a quarter (26%) measured BMI 'always' or 'often', while 37% did not measure BMI. Only 41% of SPDs who measured BMI took action more than twice in a year. Most commonly (90%) the child's GP was informed. Conclusions: SPDs were supportive of the identification of underweight or overweight/obese children. However, many felt uncertain about BMI interpretation. Thus, few routinely measured BMI or acted on abnormal results. SPDs would benefit from training, alongside development of a local protocol, regarding BMI calculation and interpretation.