Epidemiology of Periodontal Disease

• What is epidemiology?


  The study of distribution of disease or a physiological condition in human population and the factors that influence this distribution
• What is descriptive epidemiology?

  Description of the distribution of the disease in different populations
• What is etiologic epidemiology?

  Consider the aetiology of a disease from the combination of descriptive epidemiological data along with other information e.g genetics, microbiology, sociology etc
• What is analytical epidemiology?

  Evaluate the consistency of epidemiologic data with hypotheses developed clinically or experimentally
• What is Experimental epidemiology?

  Provides a basis for developing and evaluating preventative programmes and public health practises.
• Why is it important to study epidemiology of diseases?

  Because knowledge of epidemiology may help us to understand the impact of the disease, any aetiological factors, treatment needs, treatment effects, etc.
• What do the terms incidence and prevalence mean in epidemiology?

  Incidence- the number of new cases per year

  Prevalence- the total number of cases within the population
• What are some issues for a periodontal epidemiologist?

  There's no set, defined parameters which should be measured

  This results in variations in national & international studies

  This makes the analysis of data more difficult
• How should epidemiological data be measured?

  Ideally measured as a full assessment for a large data set but this is not practical so alternatives are used e.g partial recordings

  
  

  This can be difficult in a community setting
• How would a periodontal epidemiologist examine the extent & severity of the disease?

  Severity- the amount of attachment loss in a tooth

  Extent- number of teeth affected
• What is the problem with the Adult Dental Health Survey (ADH)?

  It probably significantly underestimates the amount of disease because it's only a partial mouth recording

  It's also not completed in the dental clinic
• Describe some basic periodontal epidemiology.

  Gingivitis is highly prevalent in the adult population (60%+)

  
  

  Associated with levels of plaque

  
  

  Mild-moderate periodontitis has a prevalence of between 20-35%

  
  

  Severe periodontitis is relatively infrequent (10-15%)
• What was the 'natural history of periodontal disease in man' study?

  It was a parallel cohort longitudinal study about male tea labourers in Sri Lanka with little/no access to oral care compared to 565 male students & teachers aged 17-31 in Oslo, Norway and the data was collected in 1969
• What were the outcomes of the study?

  
• How did the distribution of periodontal disease compare in both populations in the study?

  
• Which factors need to be considered when assessing patients' progression of disease?

  Site specificity- consider their periodontal phenotype or local factors e.g mouth breather

  
  

  Susceptibility- is there family history?

  
  

  Risk- do they have established modifiable risk factors? E.g smoking or poor diabetic control
• What are some features of low/normal/high risk groups for periodontal disease?