gms | German Medical Science

Background: Accurate information on the prevalence and extent of periodontal diseases in East Germany is lacking. Thus, we estimated the prevalence and extent of periodontal disease using data from the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP 0).

Materials and Methods: SHIP 0 is a cross sectional survey based on a representative random sample including 4310 subjects (20-79 years old) examined in Pomerania, East Germany, between 1997 and 2001. Periodontal status was assessed using attachment loss (AL) and probing depth (PD) as well as extent and severity of AL and PD in half-mouth at four sites per tooth. Furthermore, the number of teeth and positive bleeding on probing was determined. For all analyses weighted data were used.

Results: Mean number of teeth was 18.9 (SD 9.1) with male subjects having on average more teeth (19.6 (SD 11.7)) compared to females (18.1 (SD 9.4)). The mean percentage of sites with positive bleeding increases with age from 26.5% (20-29 years) up to 47.6% for > 69 aged subjects.

Prevalence of at least one site with AL ≥ 4mm was 70.9% (SD 0.8) for the population of dentate adults and differs significantly between females and males (68.8% (SD 1.1) vs. 73.3% (SD 1.2)). On average 25.0% (SD 30.7) of teeth per person were affected with a mean AV of 4.9mm. The prevalence of PD ≥ 4mm was 69.3% (SD 0.8). On average 12.1% (SD 17.1) teeth were affected with a mean severity of 4.5mm. Both prevalence and extent of periodontitis increase considerably with age.

Conclusion: Tooth loss and high extent and severity of periodontal destruction constitute a major public health problem in East Germany. The prevalence of periodontal diseases highly depends on age.