Periodontal health and periodontal disease in young people: global epidemiology

Abstract

A review of epidemiological surveys of the periodontal conditions of young people has shown that chronic marginal gingivitis associated primarily with plaque, is global, very common and even endemic in some population groups. Data on the prevalence of transient gingival conditions associated with tooth eruption, puberty and systemic factors are lacking and therefore their contribution to the prevalence of periodontal disease is unknown. Reports of periodontitis in young people are relatively uncommon except in a few populations where it appears as an adult-type of chronic marginal periodontitis. Juvenile periodontitis and other more destructive forms of periodontitis are not common. However, problems in epidemiological methodology and clinical differential diagnosis make comparative evaluation of survey data difficult and subjective. Two epidemiological indices, the Periodontal Index and the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) have been used for many surveys in varied population groups. They provide data which agree on the ubiquity of gingivitis, whether identified visually or by bleeding-on-probing, and the low frequency of periodontitis. Data from CPITN surveys reveal a higher prevalence of calculus (sub-gingival) associated with gingivitis in young people than previously reported. All the epidemiological data reviewed point to plaque as the primary aetiological agent in gingivitis. There is little evidence of the involvement of other factors except that host resistance/susceptibility in this age group may modify the microbial effect.