Radiographic study of ethnic variation in alveolar bone height among New Zealand dental students

Prevalence of Moderate to Severe Periodontitis in an 18–19th Century Sample—St. Bride’s Lower Churchyard (London, UK)

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of moderate to severe periodontitis in 18–19th century skulls in the St Bride’s Lower Churchyard in London, UK. Materials and methods: A total of 105 adult skulls (66 M: F 39) from the Museum of London collection were examined for evidence of dental disease. The primary method was to measure the presence of moderate to severe periodontitis. Other dental pathologies were recorded such as tooth wear, calculus, and caries. Results: Overall, the prevalence of moderate to severe periodontitis in the sample was 21–24%. Males were observed to be more susceptible to periodontal disease than females. The severity of bone loss in the skull collection also increased with age. There was no significant difference in the amount of calculus deposition when comparing either age or sex. A total of 14% of the individuals in the sample showed signs of smoking. Conclusion: The results of the study indicated that the prevalence of moderate to severe periodontitis in an 18–19th century skull sample was 21–24%, which was higher than in previous studies. This may be due to the lack of basic personal mouth care and professional dental treatment as well as known risk factors such as smoking, stress, low socioeconomic status, and malnutrition.

Accuracy of digital intraoral periapical radiography and cone-beam computed tomography in the measurement of intrabony defects: A comparative study

Background:

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory process resulting in clinical attachment loss (CAL), pocket depth (PD), and resulting in the loss of alveolar bone. Diagnostic imaging provides an adjunctive guidelines to assess the alveolar bone height in addition to clinical parameters such as PD and CAL.

Aims and Objectives:

The objectives of the study are to determine whether the digital intraoral periapical (IOPA) radiographs can be reliably used as an alternative to cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in the diagnosis of intrabony defects.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 25 patients with the presence of intrabony defects were included in the study. All the radiographic parameters were recorded using digital IOPA and CBCT. Various intrabony defect morphological characteristics such as height, depth, width, and angle were measured and compared between digital IOPA and CBCT.

Statistics:

The data was subjected to statistical analysis. Mann–Whitney U-test was performed for interexaminer comparison and independent t-test for intergroup comparison.

Results:

The mean intergroup comparison values between digital IOPA and CBCT in relation to defect width were 3.22 ± 1.10 and 3.20 ± 1.16, respectively (P = 0.970), in relation to defect depth were 7.71 ± 2.3 and 7.91 ± 2.4, respectively (P = 0.769), in relation to defect height were 3.80 ± 1.20 and 3.90 ± 1.2, respectively (P = 0.794), and in relation to defect angle were 34.82 ± 8.4 and 35.28 ± 0.8.6, respectively (P = 0.851).

Conclusion:

With the drawbacks of such as high radiation exposure, unavailability, and high financial cost, digital IOPA with digital software can be used as an alternative to CBCT for measuring intrabony defect morphological characteristics in periodontitis patients.

Validity of self-reported periodontal measures, demographic characteristics, and systemic medical conditions

BACKGROUND

The objective of the present study was to assess self-reported periodontal screening questions, demographic characteristics, systemic medical conditions, and tobacco use for predicting periodontal disease among individuals seeking dental therapy in a university dental clinic.

METHODS

In this retrospective study, a total of 4,890 randomly selected dental charts were evaluated from among patients who had attended the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry clinics for treatment. Radiographic bone loss measurements were used to assess the severity of periodontal disease. Demographic characteristics as well as medical history of the patients were also recorded. Five self-reported periodontal screening questions were included, with answers limited to Yes/No. Generalized logit models were used to assess the association between bone loss and the predictors.

RESULTS

The sample's mean age was 54.1 years and included 52.6% males and 14.9% smokers, with a mean of 3.5 missing teeth. Self-reported tooth mobility, history of "gum treatment," and the importance of retaining teeth as well as age, tobacco use, and cancer were statistically significant predictors (P < 0.05) of a radiographic diagnosis of moderate and severe periodontal disease. With respect to severe periodontal disease, significant associations (P < 0.05) were also found with "bleeding while brushing," gender, diabetes, anxiety, and arthritis.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-reported periodontal screening questions as well as demographic characteristics, smoking, and systemic medical conditions were significant predictors of periodontal disease, and they could be used as valid, economic, and practical measures.

Evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of conventional and digital periapical radiography, panoramic radiography, and cone-beam computed tomography in the assessment of alveolar bone loss

Background:

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of different radiographic methods in the assessment of proximal alveolar bone loss (ABL).

Materials and Methods:

ABL, the distance between cement-enamel junction and alveolar bone crest, was measured in 70 mandibular human teeth – directly on the mandibles (control), using conventional periapical radiography with film holders (Rinn XCP and Han-Shin), digital periapical radiography with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensor, conventional panoramic, and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Three programs were used to measure ABL on the images: Image tool 3.0 (University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA), Kodak Imaging 6.1 (Kodak Dental Imaging 6.1, Carestream Health^®, Rochester, NY, USA), and i-CAT vision 1.6.20. Statistical analysis used ANOVA and Tukey's test at 5% significance level.

Results:

The tomographic images showed the highest means, whereas the lowest were found for periapical with Han-Shin. Controls differed from periapical with Han-Shin (P < 0.0001). CBCT differed from panoramic (P = 0.0130), periapical with Rinn XCP (P = 0.0066), periapical with Han-Shin (P < 0.0001), and digital periapical (P = 0.0027). Conventional periapicals with film holders differed from each other (P = 0.0007). Digital periapical differed from conventional periapical with Han-Shin (P = 0.0004).

Conclusions:

Conventional periapical with Han-Shin film holder was the only method that differed from the controls. CBCT had the closest means to the controls.

Residual ridge dimensions at edentulous maxillary first molar sites and periodontal bone loss among two ethnic cohorts seeking tooth replacement

OBJECTIVES

To study residual ridge dimensions at edentulous first molar sites in relation to periodontal bone loss among cohorts of partially edentulous Asian Indian and Hong Kong Chinese subjects seeking tooth replacement.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 628 edentulous maxillary first molar sites were analyzed on Cone Beam Computed Tomography scans of 225 Asian Indian (I) and 232 Hong Kong Chinese (C) partially edentulous adults seeking tooth replacement. Age, ethnicity, gender, total tooth loss, the presence or absence of adjacent teeth, categories of periodontal status defined according to radiographic alveolar bone loss (P0: periodontal health, P1: incipient to moderate disease, P2: severe periodontal disease) and sinus membrane abnormalities were noted. Alveolar ridge height (RH), widths at 1 and 3 mm from crest (RW1; RW3), and relative position of the bone crest (RR) were measured.

RESULTS

Prevalence of P2 status was most frequent in both cohorts(C: 50.4% I: 49.2%). P2 had lowest ridge heights; 13.1% C P2 and 14%I P2 had RH < 2 mm. Sites with both RH <8 mm and RW1 < 6 mm occurred at 59%C P2 and 68%I P2. Sinus membrane abnormalities were most frequent in P2. Periodontal status and sinus membrane abnormality increased the odds of RH <5 mm and RH <8 mm more than 2-fold; additionally, gender and ethnicity significantly impacted RH <8 mm. Gender and adjacent tooth status significantly affected RW1.

CONCLUSION

Incident advanced periodontal disease was common among Asian Indian and Hong Kong Chinese subjects seeking tooth replacement and associated with lower available bone heights. Ethnicity, gender, sinus membrane thickening affected available bone height in the subsinus region, while the presence of adjacent teeth- and age-affected residual ridge width.

Detection of periodontal bone loss using cone beam CT and intraoral radiography

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to compare periapical radiographs with cone beam CT (CBCT) imaging in detecting and localizing alveolar bone loss by comparing linear measurements of the height, depth and width of the defects and identifying combined bone defects in tomographic images.

METHODS

The images were selected from a secondary database containing images of patients referred for periodontal evaluation. The sample consisted of 51 sites showing both horizontal and vertical bone loss, assessed by 3 trained examiners.

RESULTS

The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the imaging methods in terms of identification of the pattern of bone loss. However, there were differences between the two methods when the distance between the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) and the alveolar crest (AC) was measured. When the distance between the CEJ and the deepest point and width of the defect were measured, the methods showed no statistically significant difference. In this study, 30.8% of the 39 teeth evaluated had combined bone defects.

CONCLUSIONS

The two methods differ when detecting the height of the alveolar bone crest but present similar views of the depth and width of bone defects. CBCT was the only method that allowed for an analysis of the buccal and lingual/palatal surfaces and an improved visualization of the morphology of the defect.