Periodontal breakdown inter-tooth relationships in estimating periodontitis-related tooth loss

An Li; Lianmin Chen; Renske Z Thomas; Ubele van der Velden; Amaliya Amaliya; Luc W M van der Sluis; Annemarie A Schuller; G-H E Tjakkes

doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2021.103755

Periodontal breakdown inter-tooth relationships in estimating periodontitis-related tooth loss

J Dent. 2021 Sep:112:103755. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2021.103755. Epub 2021 Aug 3.

Authors

An Li¹, Lianmin Chen², Renske Z Thomas³, Ubele van der Velden⁴, Amaliya Amaliya⁵, Luc W M van der Sluis⁶, Annemarie A Schuller⁷, G-H E Tjakkes⁸

Affiliations

¹ Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Stomatological Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Cardiology, Nanjing Medical University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China; Department of Pediatrics & Department of Genetics, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: lianminchen@njmu.edu.cn.
³ Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Dentistry, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Periodontology, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Periodontology, Dental Faculty, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.
⁶ Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
⁷ Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Child Health, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, Leiden, the Netherlands.
⁸ Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: g.h.e.tjakkes@umcg.nl.

PMID: 34358611
DOI: 10.1016/j.jdent.2021.103755

Abstract

Objectives: The reasons for tooth extraction are rarely recorded in epidemiological datasets. It poses a diagnostic challenge to determine if tooth loss is related to periodontal disease (TLPD). The present study aimed to assess the inter-tooth relationships based on the periodontal characteristics of existing teeth.

Methods: A cross-sectional dataset of 8,978 participants with complete periodontal examination (including probing pocket depth [PPD] and clinical attachment loss [CAL]) in the NHANES 2009-2014 was used in this study. Spearman rank correlation was applied to assess the inter-tooth correlations of PPD/CAL among 28 teeth after adjustment for relevant confounders. We further verify our findings in the Java Project on Periodontal Disease with TLPD information available (the number of TLPD = 12).

Results: Strong PPD/CAL correlations were observed in adjacent teeth (r for PPD = 0.652, r for CAL = 0.597; false discovery rate [FDR] <0.05) rather than those on non-adjacent teeth (r for PPD = 0.515, r for CAL = 0.476; FDR <0.05). The correlations increased among severe periodontitis cases (CAL ≥5 mm or PPD ≥6 mm). In line with this, we further observed that the teeth adjacent to the TLPD tooth had the most alveolar bone loss in the Java dataset.

Conclusion: The periodontitis parameters (PPD/CAL) of adjacent teeth could be a potential indicator to estimate TLPD when actual reasons for tooth extraction are unknown.

Clinical significance: Periodontally compromised teeth adjacent to a lost tooth may help estimate whether the loss could be related to periodontal disease when the actual extraction reasons are unknown.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Periodontal diagnosis; Periodontal disease; Tooth loss.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Nutrition Surveys
Periodontal Attachment Loss
Periodontitis* / complications
Periodontitis* / epidemiology
Tooth Loss* / epidemiology
Tooth Loss* / etiology
Tooth*