Oral health and physical performance in Asian military males: The cardiorespiratory fitness and health in armed forces

Kun-Zhe Tsai; Pang-Yen Liu; Wei-Chun Huang; Chen-Chih Chu; Xuemei Sui; Carl J Lavie; Gen-Min Lin

doi:10.1016/j.jds.2023.07.013

Oral health and physical performance in Asian military males: The cardiorespiratory fitness and health in armed forces

J Dent Sci. 2024 Apr;19(2):998-1003. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2023.07.013. Epub 2023 Jul 17.

Authors

Kun-Zhe Tsai^{1

2

3}, Pang-Yen Liu⁴, Wei-Chun Huang^{5

6}, Chen-Chih Chu⁴, Xuemei Sui⁷, Carl J Lavie⁸, Gen-Min Lin^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan.
² Department of Stomatology of Periodontology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Dentistry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Yangming Campus, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA.
⁸ John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School, The University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, USA.

Abstract

Background/purpose: It is unclear about whether the oral health has impact on physical performance. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association between oral health and physical performance in 300 military adults in Taiwan.

Materials and methods: Oral health was assessed by the presence of periodontitis and dental caries. The status of cardiorespiratory and muscular endurance capacity was respectively assessed by tertiles of time for a 3000-m run and 2-min push-up numbers. Multivariable logistic and linear regression analyses with adjustments for age, smoking, alcohol drinking, blood pressure, anthropometric variables, lipid profile, fasting glucose and physical activity were used to determine the association.

Results: Participants with periodontitis were more likely to have worse 3000-m running performance classified in the lowest tertile [odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval: 1.94 (1.03, 3.66)]. Participants with any dental caries were more likely to have worse push-ups performance classified in the lowest tertile [OR: 2.50 (1.27, 4.92)]. In linear regression analyses, dental caries numbers were inversely correlated with 2-min push-ups numbers [β = -1.04 (-2.07, -0.01)].

Conclusion: This study suggests that oral health is crucial to maintain physical fitness, and dental caries and periodontitis may affect differently on aerobic and muscular endurance capacities.

Keywords: Dental caries; Oral health; Periodontitis; Physical fitness.