iDentistry The Journal identistry_may_aug2019 | Page 13

*Dr. Anita Mehta
**Dr. Deepti Vashisht
***Dr. Nitin Khuller
****Dr. Ramandeep Singh Brar
The Journal
Periodontitis and associated risk factors : A Review
Periodontal diseases are multifactorial caused primarily by bacteria whereas gingivitis is a
nondestructive form of periodontal diseases.
Presence of risk factors for
periodontitis
Epidemiological studies shows that gingivitis is
common both in children and adults. Albandar
et al4 assessed the prevalence of gingival
inflammation in a large group of adolescents
without periodontitis, who were a subgroup
among a larger group examined in the national
survey of the oral health of children, and found
that 82.1% of the subjects had gingival
bleeding. Only a proportion of individuals and
tooth sites with gingival inflammation may
develop periodontal tissue loss.
Risk Assessment
It is important to assess the periodontal health
risk from the presence of factors and the effect
of an increase in their dose. Among the
measures used to express health risk are
absolute risk, relative risk, odds ratio, and
attributable risk.1 Absolute risk is the probability
that an individual will develop the disease over a
specified period of time. Relative risk is the
comparison of the health risk between two
populations. This measure is common place in
prospective and cohort studies. Relative risk
can be measured only when the outcome is
dichotomous. Odds ratio is an estimate of the
relative risk, and is the ratio of the probability of
occurrence of the event (or developing the
disease) to the probability of its nonoccurrence.
It is useful in retrospective and case-control
studies. Odds ratios have been commonly used
to express risk because it provides a fairly good
estimate of the true relative risk of exposure in
the target population, provided that the
outcome is rare. Attributable risk is a
comparison of the health risk between two
populations. The attributable risk is assessed
as the difference in the incidence rates (risk
ratios or probabilities) of occurrence of disease
between exposed and non exposed
populations.
Population-attributable risk is an additional
measure used to express the impact of
exposure on outcome in the target population
from which the study sample derives. It
measures the proportion of all cases of
outcome in the target population that are
attributable to exposure, or the proportion of
cases of outcome that would disappear if
exposure in the target population were
eliminated.
Sensitivity and specificity are conceptually
different, but statistically related. Sensitivity is
the proportion of correctly identified diseased
persons or the oportion of diseased persons
who have a positive test. Specificity is the
proportion of correctly identified disease-free
persons, or the proportion of disease-free
persons who have a negative test.
The predictive value is more relevant in a
clinical setting. Positive predictive value is the
proportion of persons with a positive test result
who have the disease or the proportion of
persons with an exposure who may develop the
2
disease.
* Associate Professor, Department of Periodontology & Implantology, D.I.R.D.S, Affiliated with B.F.U.H.S, Faridkot, Punjab, India
** Associate Professor, Department of Oral & Maxillo facial Surgery, D.I.R.D.S, Affiliated with B.F.U.H.S, Faridkot, Punjab, India
***Prof and HOD, Department of Periodontology & Implantology, D.I.R.D.S, Affiliated with B.F.U.H.S, Faridkot, Punjab, India
****Professor, Department of Oral & Maxillo facial Surgery, D.I.R.D.S, Affiliated with B.F.U.H.S, Faridkot, Punjab, India
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Vol. 15
No. 2
May-Aug 2019