PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS, DENTAL PLAQUE LEVELS AND SMOKING IN PERIODONTITIS PATIENTS

Psychological disturbances may lead patients to neglect oral hygiene. This study investigated whether a number of psychosocial factors (depr ession, state and trait anxiety, total and average perceived stress, a nd loneliness) could predict dental plaque levels in patients with adu lt onset rapidly progressive periodontitis (RPP) and routine chronic a dult periodontitis (RCAP), before periodontal treatment. It was also e xamined whether RPP and RCAP patients differed on plaque and smoking. Plaque was scored in a sample of 6 teeth in each of 80 subjects, 40 wi th RPP, 40 with RCAP, before psychosocial questionnaire completion. Mu ltiple regression was performed between plaque as the dependent and ps ychosocial factors, gender, education, form of periodontitis and smoki ng as independent variables. Only gender contributed significantly to prediction of plaque, t=-2.70, p=0.01, partial regression coefficient -0.37, 95% CI: -0.64 to -0.10, indicating that plaque was on average 0 .37 lower for females than males, after adjusting for the other predic tor variables. It was confirmed that RPP and RCAP patients did not dif fer significantly on plaque, univariate t-test(69.99)= 0.65, p=0.13. H owever, RPP patients smoked significantly more than RCAP patients t(69 .72)=2.36, p=0.02. There was also a marginally significant correlation between depression and smoking, r=0.16, p=0.07. One possible reason a dvanced for the lack of an association between psychosocial factors an d plaque, and the absence of a difference in plaque between RPP and RC AP patients is the fact that the patients involved in the present stud y were seen as secondary referrals. The gender difference in plaque le vels and the greater incidence of smoking in RPP patients may be of si gnificance in planning interventions with patients with periodontitis.