The association between alcohol consumption and periodontitis in southern Brazilian adults.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: An association between alcohol consumption and periodontitis has been suggested in the literature, but the evidence is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and periodontitis in a probability sample of adults from south Brazil. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This analysis included 1115 subjects aged 18-65 years derived from a representative sample from south Brazil. Data were collected from participants from clinical examination and structured interviews. Alcohol consumption was assessed by asking participants about the usual number of drinks consumed in a week. Four categories of alcohol consumption were defined: non-drinker, ≤ 1 glass/wk, > 1 glass/wk, ≤ 1 glass/d and > 1 glass/d. Individuals with ≥ 30% teeth with periodontal attachment loss ≥ 5 mm were classified as having periodontitis. Logistic models adjusting for age, race, socioeconomic status, dental care, body mass index, self-reported diabetes and smoking were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: After adjusting for co-factors, females who reported drinking > 1 glass/d were more likely to have periodontitis (OR = 3.8, 95% CI = 1.4-10.1), whereas females who reported drinking up to 1 glass/d were 50% less likely to have periodontitis (OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.3-0.8). No significant associations between overall alcohol intake and periodontitis were observed for males. In an exploratory analysis, wine consumption was associated with a lower likelihood of periodontitis among males (OR = 0.2, 95% CI = 0.1-0.5) but not females. CONCLUSION: The periodontal health of males and females appears to be affected differently by alcohol consumption. Moderate wine consumption may have a beneficial effect in males.

Destructive forms of periodontal disease in adolescents. A 3-year longitudinal study.

We studied the periodontal disease progression and the relationship between some forms of destructive periodontitis in a group of Brazilian adolescents with high prevalence of periodontal destruction, and evaluated the adequacy of reducing data by limiting the measurement of disease to first molars and by aggregating and pooling site-scores into subject-level scores. Over a period of 3 years 222 adolescents were examined annually by bite-wing radiographs. Individuals displaying arc-shaped bone lesions adjacent to greater than or equal to 2 first molars were diagnosed as juvenile periodontitis (JP) patients, while those with greater than or equal to 1 first molars showing vertical lesions were regarded as periodontal risk subjects. Teenagers with greater than or equal to 2 first molars exhibiting longitudinal bone loss were defined as high-risk patients. At the ages of 13 and 16 years, 3 (1.3%) and 4 (1.8%) subjects had JP, while 12 (5.4%) and 28 (12.6%) were regarded as periodontal risks; 8 (3.6%) subjects were assigned to the high-risk group; 4 (1.8%) 13-year olds had greater than or equal to 1 first molars missing; hence, no loss of posterior teeth occurred over a period of 3 years. Analyzing the data at the site-level revealed progressive loss and little fluctuation in the alveolar bone height in the high-risk group, and a more pronounced bone loss at the mesial than at the distal surfaces. Simpler data sets were constructed by aggregating some of the site-scores or by pooling these into subject-level scores.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)