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Prevalence of juvenile periodontitis in a circumpubertal population
Author(s) -
Neely Anthony L.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of clinical periodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.456
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1600-051X
pISSN - 0303-6979
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-051x.1992.tb00664.x
Subject(s) - periodontitis , juvenile , medicine , population , dentistry , biology , environmental health , genetics
A cross‐sectional radiographic screening was performed on bite‐wing pairs (BW) from 1872 10–12 year old schoolchildren in the Greater Worcester, Massachusetts area to assess the prevalence of juvenile periodontitis (JP). The 3‐stage screening process entailed: (1) visual identification of possible cases based upon a visual assessment of BW for interproximal crestal bone levels ≥ 2 mm from the cemento‐enamel junction (CEJ) on ≥ 1 permanent first molar; (2) identification of probable cases based upon BW from possible cases measured with a transparent ruler calibrated in millimeters; (3) finally, clinical confirmation of JP in consenting probable cases. A total of 1038 subjects were eligible to be included in the study (≥3 mesial sites readable). Of the 1038 eligible subjects, 117 possible and 103 probable cases were identified in stage 1 and stage 2, respectively. A total of 99 probable cases could be contacted and 43 were examined clinically. Two cases of JP were confirmed clinically in stage 3, yielding a prevalence rate of 4.6/1000. Specifically, this report defines a rate of JP in 10–12 year‐old schoolchildren for the first time. In addition, these results indicate that BW can be used to identify children with JP from large data sets. However, further studies including complete clinical and radiographic examinations are necessary to determine whether this method is adequate for large epidemiologic studies.