The association between supragingival [correction of subgingival] calculus deposits and the extent of gingival recession in a sample of Thai children and teenagers.

A survey was performed on a sample of children and teenagers in Thailand. The sample consisted of 260 subjects ages 10-17 years. Assessments of the prevalence and amount of supragingival calculus (Volpe-Manhold) on the facial and lingual surfaces of the six mandibular anterior teeth were recorded. All subjects then received a thorough whole mouth prophylaxis. Two weeks later they were reexamined for gingival recession using the Gingival Recession Total (GRT) scoring system on the same six mandibular anterior teeth. For the analysis, the calculus scores were used to categorize the subjects as having slight, medium, or heavy calculus. Using the GRT scores, the same subjects were then categorized as having mild, moderate or extensive gingival recession. The categories of both calculus level and gingival recession level were statistically assessed using the Chi-square distribution and a significant difference was found indicating that the amount of calculus was related to total gingival recession. Subjects with slight calculus had more mild recession whereas medium or heavy calculus formers had more moderate or extensive total gingival recession scores.