Periodontal Status In Geriatrics- An Epidemiological Study Dr. Kripal Krishna*, Reader, Dr. Dwarakanath C.D.**, Prof. and Head, Dr. Jayakumari***, Assistant Professor * Dept. of Periodontology, Sri Hassanamba Dental College & Hospital, Hassan. ** Department of Periodontology, Oxford Dental College and Hospital, Bangalore. *** Dept. of Clinical Bio Chemistry, St. Johns Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore. Abstract Context In the last two decades, the understanding of the natural history of periodontal disease has undergone tremendous change. The concept suggesting that, periodontitis is a slowly, continually progressive condition leading into loss of alveolar bone and ultimate loss of tooth over a period of time and that diseases are of wide spread, affecting the majority of adult population, has been gradually replaced by better and more comprehensive understanding of the nature of periodontal pathology, the various modifying factors involved and so on. Objective To determine the prevalence and severity of periodontal disease in people aged 55 years and above. To determine to what extent age acts as a risk factor after discounting the effects of poor oral hygiene and other modifying factors in the development and progression of periodontal disease. Methods Elderly dentate patients both male and female living in and around Bangalore in the age group of 55 years and above were selected for this study. The subjected were randomly chosen from the Oral Medicine Department of M.R. Ambedkar Dental College and Hospital. To be eligible for inclusion in the study the subjects had to fulfill the following conditions:Patients should not have undergone any form of periodontal treatment during the past one year. Patients should have not less than 16 teeth on the whole and 8 teeth per arch. All the patients were subjected to a detailed case history, where in such information like socio-economic status, income, level of education and medical status were carefully recorded. Patients were also requested to produce all the previous medical records if available and relevant information obtained. This was followed by thorough periodontal examination and all the chosen parameters were carefully recorded. These recordings were made by one examiner. However the consistency and accuracy of the measurements were regularly and randomly checked by another examiner in order to keep the intra examiner variations to a negligible level. Results Upon evaluation of data the following facts emerged: All the patients examined showed the some form of periodontal disease affecting at least a few teeth. Most of the sites showed mild to moderate periodontitis which increased with age. However even in subjects over 70 years of age at least 37% of the sites had mean attachment loss of less than 4mm and only 24% of the sites showed mean attachment loss of more than 7mm. Patients with diabetes mellitus and patients who were smokers had higher values than non-diabetes and non-smokers respectively. Mild to moderate form of slowly progressive periodontitis is a feature of the elderly. However such changes do not automatically lead to tooth loss. Severe periodontitis should not be regarded as a natural sequelae of ageing. Besides ageing other contributory factors such as diabetes mellitus, smoking could have a role in the severity of periodondal disease in the elderly. Top Keywords Geriatrics, periodontitis, aging, smoking, diabetes mellitus, plaque, calculus, periodontal pocket, probing depth, attachment loss. Top |