Periodontal status in relation to age of dentate middle aged women. A 12 year longitudinal and a cross-sectional population study.

The periodontal status was studied by means of orthopantomography in one prospective and one cross-sectional cohort study of representative samples of dentate middle aged women living in Gothenburg. The proximal bone height was assessed by measurements on the roentgenographs by aid of a five degree scale. Since loss of teeth in middleaged persons often is due to periodontal disease, also tooth loss was registered. The prospective study: Eight hundred and sixty-two women belonging to age strata 38, 46, 50, 54 and 60 years and born on certain dates were examined in 1968 and were re-examined in 1980. The average number of teeth lost during the 12 year observation period varied from 1.7 to 3.3 in the different age strata and the average alveolar bone height had been reduced in all age groups. About 83 per cent of the participants had a mean bone height of the same magnitude at both occasions, while about 5 per cent showed a considerable progression of bone loss. The percentage of individuals showing greater bone loss was the lowest among those who were 50 years old at the first examination. The progression of bone loss during the observation period did not seem to be related to the initial periodontal status. The cross-sectional cohort study included four samples, viz. 38 and 50 years old women from each of the 1968 and 1980 examinations. Some improvement of the dental state had occurred from 1968 to 1980 as evidenced from the number of remaining teeth. The 38 year old women had on an average 2.1 teeth more in 1980 compared to participants of the same age 12 years earlier. In 50 year old women the corresponding figure was 2.5 teeth. The percentage of 38 year old women with greater than or equal to 22 remaining teeth had increased from about 73 to 90 per cent in the 1968 and 1980 cohorts respectively. The corresponding figures for 50 year old women were 48 per cent in 1968 and 67 per cent in 1980. Also the periodontal state was somewhat better in the 1980 cohorts: More than 65 per cent of the women in the 38 year cohort had only slight bone loss in 1980 compared to 49 per cent in the 1968 one. In the 50 year old cohort 32 per cent of the women showed only a slight bone loss in 1980 compared to 23 per cent in 1968.