Caries levels in patients with juvenile periodontitis.

The degree and distribution of tooth decay in a group of juvenile periodontitis ( JP ) patients were compared with tooth decay in an age- and sex-matched periodontally normal control group. The experimental group was comprised of 13 patients of no more than 20 years of age who were designated as localized juvenile periodontitis patients ( LJP ) according to the definition of Baer, and 10 patients of no more than 25 years of age who were designated as generalized juvenile periodontitis patients ( GJP ), as described by Manson and Lehner . Twenty-three age- and sex-matched patients with no periodontal disease served as the control group. Caries was evaluated by standard clinical and radiographic criteria and quantitated by decayed, missing, filled teeth and surfaces (DMFS). Decay was further categorized as active proximal decay and as total proximal decay, which included both active proximal caries and restored proximal surfaces. A Student's t test revealed no statistical differences between the LJP and GJP groups. Moreover, there was no difference in the number of missing or filled teeth in the JP group as compared to the control group. However, 17 of the 23 JP patients had no proximal decay, whereas all but two of the 23 control patients had some proximal decay. Moreover, in the JP group ( LJP and GJP ) the mean values for active proximal decay and total proximal decay were both significantly lower than those in the control group (P less than 0.001). Thus, a low number of proximal carious lesions were found in the presence of juvenile periodontitis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)