Abstract

BackgroundAlthough several studies assessed the prevalence of alveolar bone loss, the association with several risk factors has not been fully investigated. The aim of this article is to measure the prevalence of periodontitis by calculating the mean alveolar bone loss/level of posterior teeth using bitewing radiographs among the patients enrolled in the clinics at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and address risk factors associated with the disease.MethodsOne thousand one hundred thirty-one patients were selected for radiographic analysis to calculate the mean alveolar bone loss/level by measuring the distance between the cementoenamel junction and the alveolar bone crest on the mesial and distal surfaces of posterior teeth. Linear regression with Multi-level mixed-effect model was used for statistical analysis adjusting for age, sex, race, median household income, and other variables.ResultsMean alveolar bone level of the whole sample was 1.30 mm (±0.006). Overall periodontitis prevalence for the sample was 55.5% (±1.4%). Moderate periodontitis prevalence was 20.7% (±1.2%), while 2.8% (±0.5%) of the whole sample had severe periodontitis. Adjusted mean alveolar bone loss was higher in older age groups, males, Asian race group, ever smokers, and patients with low median household income.ConclusionThe effect of high household income on the amount of bone loss can be powerful to the degree that high household income can influence outcomes even for individuals who had higher risks of developing the disease. Public health professionals and clinicians need to collaborate with policy makers to achieve and sustain high quality of healthcare for everyone.

Highlights

  • Several studies assessed the prevalence of alveolar bone loss, the association with several risk factors has not been fully investigated

  • The specific aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of periodontitis using BW radiographs among the patients enrolled in the clinics at Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) and investigate their risk factors associated with the disease, comparing them to predisposing factors reported in the literature

  • Descriptive statistics A total of 1131 individuals were included in the analysis with a mean alveolar bone level of 1.30 mm (±0.006)

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Summary

Introduction

Several studies assessed the prevalence of alveolar bone loss, the association with several risk factors has not been fully investigated. Periodontal diseases are inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity that can be confined only to the gingiva as in gingivitis or exceed beyond that to result in soft and hard tissue loss which affects the attachment of the teeth to the alveolar bone, as in periodontitis [1]. This is an inflammatory process that has been studied for decades with respect to its nature, risk factors, and whether it has specific or non-specific etiological factors including the underlying microbiology [2,3,4,5]. As disease appears to be the result of loss of regulation and a failure to return to homeostasis, it is important to achieve a more complete

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