Prevalence of Periodontitis in Adults in the United States: 2009 and 2010

Abstract

This study estimated the prevalence, severity, and extent of periodontitis in the adult U.S. population, with data from the 2009 and 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycle. Estimates were derived from a sample of 3,742 adults aged 30 years and older, of the civilian non-institutionalized population, having 1 or more natural teeth. Attachment loss (AL) and probing depth (PD) were measured at 6 sites per tooth on all teeth (except the third molars). Over 47% of the sample, representing 64.7 million adults, had periodontitis, distributed as 8.7%, 30.0%, and 8.5% with mild, moderate, and severe periodontitis, respectively. For adults aged 65 years and older, 64% had either moderate or severe periodontitis. Eighty-six and 40.9% had 1 or more teeth with AL ≥ 3 mm and PD ≥ 4 mm, respectively. With respect to extent of disease, 56% and 18% of the adult population had 5% or more periodontal sites with ≥ 3 mm AL and ≥ 4 mm PD, respectively. Periodontitis was highest in men, Mexican Americans, adults with less than a high school education, adults below 100% Federal Poverty Levels (FPL), and current smokers. This survey has provided direct evidence for a high burden of periodontitis in the adult U.S. population.

Clinical and microbiological parameters of naturally occurring periodontitis in the non-human primate Macaca mulatta

“…In humans, the summary effect of genetics on periodontitis, based on family and twins studies, has been estimated at approximately 50%, independent of smoking and other behavioural variables [32–34]. Of interest, these susceptibility findings are not dissimilar to studies in adult humans age 30 and older, conducted as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) [23,35]. As in the present study, NHANES also carried out full mouth examinations of six sites per tooth, to provide a comprehensive disease assessment; the prevalence of moderate and severe disease was found to be 8.9% and 30.0% respectively.…”

Knowledge of medical doctors in Turkey about the relationship between periodontal disease and systemic health

“…all American adults suffer from PD, 6 this rate is much higher (84.3% of adults 35-44 years old) in Turkey 7 and other countries. 8 The potential effects of systemic diseases on the periodontium have been reported in earlier studies 9,10 and a new branch of medicine defined as "medical periodontology" was proposed by Williams and Offenbacher,11 who pointed to the bidirectional relationship between periodontal diseases and systemic conditions such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases, preterm birth and low birth weight.…”

Citrullination as a plausible link to periodontitis, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease

“…Although, PD is not an autoimmune disease per se, P. gingivalis infection has the potential to induce autoimmune responses in oral tissues [23]. Periodontitis affects approximately 65 million (47%) US adults, 30 years and older [24]. By adopting a more resilient phenotype through selecting different signalling pathway molecules, in vitro studies demonstrate the survival ‘instincts’ of this pathogen under both poor and sufficient bioavailability of haemin [25,26].…”