RESUMEN
An epidemiologic examination was carried out to reveal the prevalence of the periodontal diseases and oral pigmentation in patients with Yusho in 2010. The results obtained were as follows. 1) Yusho patients complained of tooth pain and periodontal diseases such as gingival swelling, but not of oral pigmentation. 2) 104 patients out of 117 patients with Yusho, who were measured periodontal pocket depth according to Ramfjord' methods, had at least one tooth with periodontal pocket deeper than 3 mm. Similarly, 314 teeth out of a total 551 examined teeth showed a periodontal pocket with more than 3 mm in depth. However, it was determined that 57 teeth had a periodontal pocket deeper than 4 mm. 3) Oral pigmentation was observed in 63 patients out of 122 patients with Yusho. In this study, gingival pigmentation was most predominant among oral pigmentation. The prevalence of oral pigmentation in male patients seemed to be somewhat higher than that in female patients. In addition, the prevalence of oral pigmentation tended to be higher in patients under seventy years old than patients beyond the age of seventy. These results indicated that PCB-related compounds may be responsible for the higher prevalence of both periodontal diseases and oral pigmentation.
