Correlation of dental caries in chronic generalized periodontitis patients

Background and Objectives: Dental caries and chronic generalized periodontitis are the two most common oral diseases of the adult population. Etiology of these two diseases is entirely different along with the other salivary factors like salivary Ph, calcium, phosphorous levels etc. Depending on these variations an inverse relationship exists between these diseases. Hence the aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of dental caries in chronic generalized periodontitis patients. Materials and Method: Sample consisted of 60 patients diagnosed with chronic generalized periodontitis using DMFT and CPI index. Results: The mean DMFT scores of our test group were 3.13 ± 1.53 and mean number of decayed teeth was 2.23±1.12. Conclusion: The prevalence of dental caries was lower in chronic generalized periodontitis patients. Hence we would like to conclude that preventive measures have to be considered in such patients to lower the risk of caries. Introduction Extensive epidemiological studies have been conducted to evaluate the relationship between the two most common microbial diseases i.e. dental caries and chronic generalized periodontitis and the results are diverse. However, a plethora of evidence exist which show that the patients suffering from chronic generalized periodontitis have lower levels of dental caries and also lower number of S. mutans counts when compared to healthy/cariogenic individuals. There are various contributory factors which govern the oral environment, some of which include the salivary Ph, salivary buffering capacity, calcium and phosphorous levels and even the microbial counts. It has been shown that these contributory factors may play a major role in modifying the oral environment which in turn may influence the occurrence and also the progress of the disease. Extensive study have been conducted on this topic with the following review of literature. Studies have been conducted to evaluate the relationship between dental caries and periodontitis and the results have been diverse. A Nationwide Health 2000 health examination survey in Finland was carried out in 2000 and 2001 by National Institute of Health and Welfare conducted by Mattila P et al to evaluate the simultaneous occurrence of periodontal disease and dental caries in Finnish population aged 30 years and above and found that subjects having periodontal disease had significantly more dental caries than those without periodontal disease. But another study was also conducted by Entezari S et al and Judy Skier where they found that there was no significant difference between the occurrence of periodontal disease and dental caries in chronic generalized periodontitis patients. Kinane DF et al conducted another study to know the synergistic association of dental caries and periodontitis in the same individuals with a sample size of 800 subjects using dental radiographs and did not find any significant association between the two diseases. Iwano Y et al conducted a study to evaluate the presence of dental caries in healthy and periodontitis patients using real time polymerase chain reaction in 40 individuals where he concluded that the caries incidence was higher in periodontitis patients. Literature also exists which shows increased incidence of root caries in periodontitis patients following phase-I therapy. As it is evident from the above mentioned studies, the incidence of dental caries in periodontitis patients is varied. Hence the aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of dental caries in chronic generalized periodontitis patients. Objectives To estimate the prevalence of dental caries in chronic generalized periodontitis patients. Inclusion Criteria 1. Patients aged 30-55yrs diagnosed with chronic generalized periodontitis. 2. Patients who were not under antibiotic medication were included in the study. 3. Presence of dental caries in chronic generalized periodontitis patients as determined by DMFT index. Exclusion Criteria 1. Patients having systemic diseases were not included in the study. 2. Smokers were excluded from the study. Materials and Method The total study sample consisted of 60 subjects diagnosed with chronic generalized periodontitis reporting to Department of Periodontics and Ketki Sali et al. Correlation of dental caries in chronic generalized periodontitis patients International Journal of Oral Health Dentistry; January-March 2017;3(1):26-28 27 Implantology, Coorg Institute of Dental sciences. Clinical information included name of the patient, age being between 30-55years, 38 males and 22 females and their address. Chronic generalized periodontitis and dental caries were diagnosed by using CPI index and DMFT index. The CGP patients were followed up after phase -I therapy within a duration of one month. Table 1: Mean DMFT of test group