Epidemiology of gingivitis in schoolchildren in Bucharest, Romania: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Gingivitis is the most prevalent oral disease in children, being strongly associated to social gradients. Many studies have reported different results concerning the extent and intra-oral distribution of gingivitis in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiologic parameters and socio-related risk factors of gingivitis in the 10-17-year-old Bucharest schoolchildren population and to analyze its intra-oral distribution. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional data were obtained from 1595 schoolchildren, social condition being assigned using a simple questionnaire. Classes of students were used as clusters in a single-stage cluster sampling method. An intra-oral exam was performed for all the children included in this study. Silness and Löe scores, prevalence and the extent of gingivitis were calculated. RESULTS: The gingival scores showed a mild inflammation and the prevalence of gingivitis was 91%. Boys had a higher gingival (0.19 vs. 0.18; p < 0.05) and plaque scores (0.71 vs. 0.59; p < 0.01) than girls. Children who did not live in overcrowded households, whose parents had a better education and those who had direct access to school dental services displayed better gingival conditions (p < 0.05). Gingivitis was more severe on the upper teeth, with the maximum score being reached at the right upper lateral incisor (0.63 on distal surface). CONCLUSIONS: Gingival condition in Bucharest schoolchildren population was associated to social gradients. School dental services are also another factor that seems to be related with gingivitis.

[A study of the microelements in the dental plaque]. / Studiul microelementelor din placa dentara.

In a total of 49 patients, of which 7 were controls, and the other had chronic superficial parodonthopathies, deep chronic mixed parodontopathies and gingivitis, a quantitative analysis was done of microelements from the dental plaque. Neutron activation analysis, chemical and chromatographic methods were used for evidencing the presence of Fe, Mn, Zn, Mg, Co, Ca, Na, and K ions in the dental plaque. Significant changes were noted with regard to the Fe, Zn, and Ca contents of the dental plaque in patients with deep and mixed parodonthopathies. In the patients with gingivitis high Mn and Na concentrations were found and low Mg and K ion contents. Cobalt in the dental plaque was within normal limits in all the patients. Changes of the microelements in the dental plaque are useful for clinical laboratories in view of detecting at an early stage the development of pathological processes which occur in the buccal cavity.

[Apiphytotherapeutic original preparations in the treatment of chronic marginal parodontopathies. A clinical and microbiological study]. / Preparate originale apifitoterapeutice in tratamentul parodontopatiilor marginale cronice. Studiu clinic si microbiologic.

The paper presents results obtained by the treatment of chronic marginal parodontopathies with natural products of apiarian derivatives and vegetal extracts. These are original preparations such as Proparodont, sage extracts, watercress extracts, etc., by comparison with other similar existing products, and with zinc chloride. The clinical study evaluated the "inflammation status of the marginal prodontium" on the basis of variations in the PMA index. The microbiological study has established the bacteriostatic and the bactericidal activities of the products employed. The results obtained stress the high antimicrobial activity of the original products called Proparodont, and stress its antimycotic effects, especially against Candida albicans. The blackwort (Symphytum off.) extracts have a good repair effect, especially after surgical procedures. The complex original products based on propolis and vegetal extracts are indicated in the treatment of inflammatory lesions of the gingivo-parodontal tissues, and of the buccal mucosa. They also have antimicrobial effects, as well as antimycotic, antiinflammatory and antiscar effects. They de not have side effects which are characteristic for other medicinal drugs employed in the treatment of chronic marginal parodontopathies.

[Chronic marginal parodontopathies]. / Parodontopatiile marginale cronice.

The study approaches the essential problems of chronic marginal parodontopathies in the present stage. For a more exact understanding of the intimate mechanisms which are involved in the occurrence and the development and evolution of the disease the authors start from an analysis of the health status of the marginal parodontium, to which a series of complex homeostatic processes take part, including: the progressive structuring of the marginal parodontium, neurovascular, immunological and biochemical defense mechanisms. The etiopathogeny of parodontal disease is the object of extensive investigations, and the significance of causative factors is evaluated in the light of typological understanding, of the mode of action of these factors. A dialectical unityis established between the general circumstances of the disease, and the loco-regional factors. There is a relationship between predisposition to the disease, and the pathogenetic influences which at the present time are much more diversified due to social and economic factors. An individual parodontal status develops in this way, resulting from ontogenetic accumulation, and transmissible predispositions. In the development of chronic marginal parodontitis two major circumstances are implicated, from the etiopathogenetic viewpoint: the microbial inflammation, and the totality of reactions including the immune response, and, on the other hand, occluding disorders. Changes are presented in the study, concerning biochemical constituents from the enzymatic hydrolysates of glycoproteins from the bacterial plaque. An important part of the study is concerned with results of immunological studies providing data on the presence of immune complexes in the epithelium and the chorion in various stages of parodontal disease. The gnoseological frame is defined, especially with regard to the participation of autoimmune mechanisms in the parodontal disease. In the study is also evaluated the relationship between occlusal dysfunction and the parodontal disease as a reciprocal interconditioning from which a clinical entity will result which is called "chronic marginal paradonthopathy of dystrophic type in occlusal dysfunction." From a correct understanding of the recisprocal relationship between inflammation and occlusion will result the prophylactiv attitude to parodontal disease. An important part of the study is dedicated to prophylaxis and therapy, and the most recent data from the literature and presented, as well as personal studies and researches showing the possibility for care of the individual, and the benefits of the collective health status.

[Immunofluorescence studies in the pathogeny of parodontal disease]. / Cercetari de imunofluorescenta în patogenia bolii parodontale.

One of the current question in this field is that of the possibility for parodontal disease to be an autoimmune disease. There is no clear answer as yet in the specialized literature, and no coherent and complete concepts. Starting from the existing data the authors have carried out immunological studies in patients with parodontal disease, considering the chronic, recidivating aspects of this disturbance, even after a complex therapy, and removal of pathological structures. They attempted to investigate the autoimmune components of the disease, and have employed immunofluorescent techniques of the indirect type for the study of gingival fragments without lesions obtained from patients with parodontopathies. The data obtained have demonstrated, besides the presence at the surface of the epithelium of stable immune complexes, that could be the effect of bacterial antigenic material, and cell fluorescence in the epithelium and the chorion, a fluorescence that was superposed on the respective tissue architecture. These data suggest implication of autoimmune mechanism in parodontal disease, and can explain, in the frame of the clinical aspects of chronic marginal parodontopathies, the auto-aggressive character, and the self-maintenance of these processes in certain conditions, even when an adequate therapy has been applied.

[Acupuncture as a bioenergetic reequilibration means in the treatment of chronic mixed marginal parodontopathies]. / Acupunctura ca mijloc bioenergetic de reechilibrare în tratamentul parodontopatiilor marginale cronice mixte.

The authors discuss the use of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic mixed marginal parodontopathies as an eventual means of bioenergetic reequilibration. The various studies carried out for some time by the Department of Odontology and Parodontology of the Bucharest Faculty of Stomatology have demonstrated the lateration of electrical bioresistance in certain acupuncture points in the cephalic extremity at the level of the gingival mucosa in pathologic parodontal states. This suggested the possible applicability in chronic mixed marginal parodontopathies of acupuncture instead of the known means of biostimulation.