Periodontitis in Jamaican children 13 years of age - abstract

ABSTRACT

A cohort study of forty-five Jamaican children, aged 13 years, was conducted to examine the periodontal findings of an epidemiology survey of the previous year. All subjects had, in the field survey, at least one index tooth probed to a depth exceeding 3.5 mm, indicating loss of epithelia attachment. A World Health Organization designed peridontal probe was used to assess sulcular bleeding, calculus and probing depth on six index teeth. Anterior and posterior teeth were radiographed. Active peridontal disease is indicated by the presence of bleeding upon probing (97.8 percent) and subgingival calculus (41.5 percent) in the sites with indicated loss of junctional epithelium. Digital imaging software used to analyse the radiographs indicated alveolar bone loss greater than 2 mm in 93.3 percent of subjects and greater than 3 mm in 42.2 percent. The insignificant difference (p=.08) between alveolar bone loss in molar versus premolar sites is strongly suggestive of a generalized form of periodontitis (AU)