This paper describes the prevalence of destructive periodontal disease, in two samples of New Mexico adults, examined in two separate studies 26 years apart, by analyzing the occurrence of advanced loss of periodontal attachment (7.0 or more mm) in relation to selected dental and social factors. The first group comprised 1976 dentate adults aged 17–46 yr who were examined in 1958–59. The second study, conducted in 1984, included 372 dentate adults aged 27–74 yr. In the 1958 study, the prevalence of advanced loss of attachment was significantly associated with age, gender, race, education, plaque scores, and calculus scores. In 1984, the prevalence of advanced loss was significantly associated with age, education, and the presence of plaque. The analysis of loss of periodontal attachment data from both studies showed that 0.3 and 1.5% of all teeth present in the mouth in persons examined in 1958 between the ages of 17–26 and 27–46 yr, respectively, had advanced loss of attachment. In the 1984 sample, 1.5 and 6.7% of the 12 tooth sites examined in persons 27–6 and 47–74 yr had advanced loss of periodontal attachment, respectively. These observations are in agreement with recent epidemiological studies of the prevalence and distribution of advanced loss of periodontal attachment.
An epidemiological study of periodontal disease, using four methods of assessment of severity of periodontal disease, was conducted on a representative sample of 1,976 New Mexicans aged 18 to 44 years. Periodontal disease was assessed using PI and PDI and radiographic and mobility assessments. One objective of the study was to assess whether radiographic scores and measurements of clinical mobility added significantly to the precision of discrimination between the severity of periodontal disease in populations when using the PI and PDI. Findings indicated that the PI discriminated between population groups as efficiently as the PDI plus radiographic and mobility scores. In this study females had less severe periodontal disease than males; Anglos had less severe disease than Spanish‐Americans, Mexicans, American‐Indians, and Negroes; persons with a greater number of years of schooling and persons in the higher socioeconimic groups had less severe periodontal disease than persons with fewer years of schooling and in the lower socio‐economic groups respectively; urban and rural persons had a similar severity.
Periodontal disease was assessed using PI and P.D.I. and radiographic and mobility assessments. Analysis of data by worst score in the mouth and by individual teeth indicated that PI did underestimate the severity of periodontal disease. P.D.I. diagnosed destructive periodontal disease in 45.0 per cent of mouths and 38 per cent of teeth considered free of destructive periodontal disease using PI. P.D.I. detects more destructive periodontal disease than PI at the lower radiographic scores (4 and 5); at radiographic scores 6 and 7 the disparity between the P.D.I. and PI decreased. The measurements of mobility underestimated the severity of periodontal disease; ninety five per cent of all teeth examined were considered to have a mobility score of 0 whereas 20 per cent were considered free of periodontal disease using PI. Radiographic examination did not add significantly to the PI and P.D.I. examinations.
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