Periodontal Status in Patients With Chronic Skin Diseases

Overview

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the periodontal status of chronic skin disease (CSD) patients with healthy controls. Material and method: 109 patients and 37 healthy subjects were included in this study. Parameters evaluated included bleeding on probing index (BOP), periodontal pocket depths (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), simplified debris index (DI), simplified calculus index (CI), and the presence of oral lesions. Clinical parameters were measured and compared in the two groups. The significant level was set at 0.05.

Patients with CSDs (psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, autoimmune bullous diseases, or systemic lupus erythematosus,…) were diagnosed by the dermatologists with over 5 years of experience and supportive laboratory tests, aged 18 years or older, and willing to participate in the study. The control group included healthy individuals, aged 18 years or older and free of chronic skin diseases. These individuals were willing to participate in the study and would be used as a comparison group for the case group. Clinical parameter collection Information related to epidemiological characteristics and chronic inflammatory skin conditions were recorded from medical records and oral health status was collected from clinical examination conducted by postgraduate doctors and lecturers of the Faculty of Odonto-Stomatology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City. The investigators were trained by a specialist in public dentistry and had intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of more than or equal to 0.8. The following oral clinical parameters were evaluated: 1. Full mouth bleeding on probing scores (BOP): BOP was recorded and considered positive when bleeding occurred within 20 seconds after the probe was removed after application with light pressure. A bleeding percentage was calculated for each patient by dividing the total number of positive bleeding sites by the total number of probed sites. 2. Pocket probing depth (PPD) was measured from the gingival margin to the base of the gingival sulcus/ periodontal pocket with the aid of a University of North Carolina (UNC) 15-mm periodontal probe. 3. Clinical attachment level (CAL) was measured from the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) to the base of the gingival sulcus/ periodontal pocket with the aid of a UNC periodontal probe. The CAL was considered zero if the attachment was at the level of the CEJ. If the free gingival margin was coronal to the CEJ, the CAL was determined by measuring the PPD and subtracting the distance from the CEJ to the free gingival margin. When the free gingival margin was apical to the CEJ, the CAL was determined by measuring the distance from the CEJ to the free gingival margin and adding it to the PPD. 4. debris index (DI), and (5) calculus index (CI), which were evaluated pertaining to the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) as suggested by Green and Vermillion (1964) (6) the number of oral lesions. Probed sites were classified into three different categories of PPD and CAL (≤ 3 mm, 4-5 mm, \> 6mm). The investigator examined one tooth (index teeth) from each sextant, including the incisor, left and right molar regions for both the maxillary and mandibular dental arches, to record the CAL, DI, and CI. Statistics analysis All statistical analysis was performed using Jeffrey's Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) software, version 0.17.2.1 (University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). The normality of distribution of the data was verified using the Shapiro-Wilk test. For variables that were under normal distribution, independent t-test test was used for detecting the statistically significant differences among two groups. For variables that were not normally distributed, Mann-Whitney test was used to compare among two groups. P value of \<0.05 was considered statistically significant.