CORRELATION OF THE PERIODONTAL STATUS 6 YEARS AFTER PUBERTY WITH CLINICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS DURING PUBERTY

The purpose of this study was to assess the oral clinical and microbio logical status of young adults 6 years after puberty and to compare th ese findings with the conditions observed during puberty. Clinical and microbiological parameters were monitored in 42 individuals 10xbetwee n the ages of 11 and 14 years. 33 individuals were re-examined 10 year s after the start of this monitoring. Microbiology included 2 subgingi val samples per subject taken from the mesiobuccal aspects of the uppe r Ist molars. The samples were subject to continuous anaerobic culturi ng. Individuals with a marked and sustained increase in mean papillary bleeding scores during puberty (group A, n=16) differed 6 years later from individuals without pronounced puberty gingivitis (group C, n=8) in several aspects. Individuals in group A had a significantly higher gingival bleeding tendency and an increased number of sites with more than 3 mm attachment loss. The subjects in group C showed the lowest anaerobic total cultivable counts. Spirochetes were detected only in g roup A subjects (4 samples in 3 individuals). In all positive sites, s pirochetes had been identified at least 8 out of 10 times during puber ty. A. actinomycetemcomitans was present in only one individual of gro up A. P. gingivalis had not been detected during puberty; none of the samples were P. gingivalis positive 6 years later. P. intermedia was f ound in 27% of all samples, isolates belonging to the P. melaninogenic a group of black pigmenting anaerobes had a frequency of 6%, 6 years a fter puberty. These organisms were not significantly associated with a history of puberty gingivitis. This prospective study shows a relatio nship between the presence of puberty gingivitis and periodontal and m icrobiological conditions 6 years after puberty.