Re. Persson et al., ASSESSMENT OF ALVEOLAR BONE LEVELS FROM INTRAORAL RADIOGRAPHS IN SUBJECTS BETWEEN AGES 15 AND 94 YEARS SEEKING DENTAL-CARE, Journal of clinical periodontology, 25(8), 1998, pp. 647-654
Studies have shown that <20% of the US population has periodontal dise
ase. Studies of radiographs have shown that alveolar bone loss increas
es with age. Bone loss assessed from intraoral radiographs describing
10,282 teeth from 416 subjects seeking dental care during a 3 month pe
riod at the University of Washington were studied. The mean age of the
subjects was 47.2 years (SD+/-15.2). The youngest subjects (15-24) ha
d on average 29.6 teeth (SD+/-2.2) and the oldest subjects (75-94) 19.
3 teeth (SD+/-6.6). This difference was statistically significant (F=1
6.57, p<0.001). No association was found between alveolar bone loss (C
EJ-ABC), and TMD symptoms. Smoking was significantly associated with b
oth general bone loss (CEI-ABC) (chi(2)=114.9, p<0.0001), and vertical
bone defects (angular) (chi(2)=101.8, p<0.0001). In this study popula
tion (15-94 years), alveolar bone loss progressed as defined by the sl
ope (beta=0.29) between age 15-44, but das almost fiat from age 50 yea
rs (beta=0.04). The data suggested an overall rate of alveolar bone lo
ss of 0.02 mm per year. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed t
hat smoking was the primary factor in bone loss (t=7.7, p<0.0001), fol
lowed by age (t=7.0, p<0.001) and gender (t=3.0, p<0.01). TMD symptoms
could not explain the presence and severity of horizontal or vertical
defects. If the CEJ-ABC distance above the mean plus 2x the SD was us
ed as the cutoff value to define abnormal bone levels, 10.9% of the yo
unger (15-45 years), and 10.7% of the older subjects (50-94) had signi
ficant alveolar bone loss. 73.9% of the younger and 100% of the older
subjects with such extent of alveolar bone loss were smokers.