A large proportion of this urban Brazilian sample was affected by PAL progression underscoring the need for health promotion initiatives aiming at preventing progression of destructive periodontal disease.

Poor oral health was observed in this elderly population from South Brazil. Sociodemographic disparities accounted for most of the burden of disease and treatment needs.

Obesity and hyperlipidemia modulate the host response to challenges in the periodontium, increasing the expression of periodontal breakdown.

The purpose of this study was to compare histologic and morphometric procedures of bone height measurement. Microscopic measurements are the most frequent methods in periodontal studies with animals, but have limited capacity to identify bone levels associated with both healthy tissues and periodontal disease. Ligatures were placed in the maxillary left second molars of 10 male 60-day-old Wistar rats for 30 days. Left and right maxillary sides of 5 rats were processed for histologic analysis (H), sectioned buccolingually, and stained with HE. The maxillae of the other 5 rats were defleshed and used for morphometric analysis (M). Histometric measurements from the cementoenamel junction to the bone crest were performed. Standardized photographs were used for morphometric analysis. The t test was used for dependent or independent samples (alpha = 0.05%). Distances from cementoenamel junction to bone crest were 0.95 +/- 0.25 and 1.07 +/- 0.30 mm for H and M, respectively. Buccal measurements were 0.92 +/- 0.16 and 1.08 +/- 0.35 mm for H and M. The values obtained using H and M for areas without ligatures were 0.44 +/- 0.15 and 0.47 +/- 0.11 mm for lingual measurements and 0.23 +/- 0.08 and 0.41 +/- 0.10 mm for buccal measurements. No significant differences were found between the two methods in the detection of bone height associated with the placement of ligatures in rats.

No abstract

Obesity appears to be a risk factor for PAL progression for females but not males in this developing country population.

Obesity has been linked to higher inflammatory status and periodontal breakdown.Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of obesity on alveolar bone loss in experimental periodontitis in rats. Material and Methods Twenty-four female Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: obese (n=13), which were fed with "cafeteria diet" (CAF diet - high amounts of sucrose and fat) for 90 days in order to gain weight, and non-obese (n=11) regularly fed rats. Ligature-induced experimental periodontitis was created in all animals. Body weight differed statistically between obese and non-obese groups (277.59 and 223.35 g, respectively) at the moment of the ligature placement. Morphometric registration of alveolar bone loss was carried out after 30 days of ligature placement to determine the effect of obesity on the progression of experimental periodontitis. Results Intra-group comparisons showed significantly higher alveolar bone loss mean values in maxillary teeth with ligature (P<0.05). Alveolar bone loss [mean (SD), mm] was not statistically different between obese and non-obese groups [0.71 (0.09) and 0.65 (0.07) mm, respectively]. However, when palatal sides are analyzed separately, obese group presented significantly higher alveolar bone loss (P<0.05) as compared to non-obese [0.68 (0.12) and 0.53 (0.13) mm, respectively]. Conclusions In spite of the weak differences, it is possible to conclude that the progression of alveolar bone loss in ligature-induced periodontitis can be potentially influenced by body weight in rats.

The results of this study lead to the conclusion that low concentration alcohol intake did not affect the alveolar bone loss in ligature induced periodontal breakdown.