Dental and periodontal status of Sjogren's syndrome

Background: Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is one of the most common systemic auto immune diseases in middle-aged women. The present study had the aim to exam ine the dental and periodontal condition in patients with SS in comparison with disease controls and to evaluate the influence of reduced salivary flo w in the periodontal tissues. Method: We examined 24 patients with primary or secondary SS in comparison with 27 patients who had another autoimmune disease but no signs or symptom s of SS, as well as with 29 subjects who had a subjective feeling of xerost omia or xerophthalmia without exhibing an underlying disease. The clinical evaluation included examination of the oral mucosa, determination of missin g, decayed and filled teeth, fixed or removable prosthetic appliances, plaq ue index, gingival index, probing pocket depth, probing attachment level, o ral hygiene habits and frequency of dental visits. Statistical analysis was performed using the 2-tailed Fisher exact and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results: No significant difference was found in the dental or periodontal c ondition of the 3 groups. The number of teeth, feelings and distal or mesia l decay lesions correlated negatively with age, while the number of fixed p rosthetic appliances correlated positively. The salivary flow was statistic ally lower in patients with SS and exhibited a negative correlation with th e number of cervical decay lesions. It was also found that SS patients had better oral hygiene habits than subjects of the control groups. Conclusions. No significant difference could be detected concerning the den tal and periodontal status of SS patients, compared with that of patients w ith other immune diseases as well as with that of controls who had subjecti ve xerostomia.