The effect of adjunctive systemic Metronidazole was studied in patients with moderate and advanced periodontitis recalcitrant to comprehensive non‐surgical treatment. The material originated from a randomly selected part of the population aged 31 to 40 years. After non‐surgical treatment of 149 patients, 98 with persisting pathological pockets ≥ 5 mm (52 men and 46 women) became the subjects for the study. Clinical parameters were registered and pocket contents subjected to laboratory analysis. The subjects were randomized into two groups according to a code list known only by the manufacturer and the statistician. The test group took three 400 mg metronidazole tablets daily for 1 week and the control group took placebo tablets. Reassessment 6 months later showed statistically significant clinical improvement, with a reduction in the number of sites ≥ 5 mm in both test and control groups. Complete healing, with no pockets ≥ 5 mm, was noted in 30% of the test group and 9% of the control group. The difference is statistically significant and shows the supplementary effect of adjunctive metronidazole in non‐surgical treatment of moderate and advanced periodontitis. J Periodontol 1990;61:281–288.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and localization of interproximal periodontal intrabony defects (IPIDs) in the total adult population of a Swedish county. On each interproximal tooth surface (third molars excluded) in 733 randomly selected dentate individuals aged 20 years and over, one examiner recorded from x5-magnified periapical radiographs, the presence or absence of IPID with a width and depth of at least 5 and 10 mm, respectively, representing 1 and 2 mm unmagnified. Intra-examiner reproducibility determined from double recordings was substantial (kappa = 0.66). Recordings of IPID were compared with those performed by 24 specialist periodontists using their own diagnostic criteria. IPIDs were recorded in 32% of the 733 examined individuals; the number of defects per individual ranged from 1 to 15. The prevalence of IPID increased with increasing age and IPID occurred more frequently in men than in women. IPID was observed more frequently on mesial than on distal tooth surfaces, whereas there was no difference between maxillary and mandibular tooth surfaces. Symmetrical localizations of IPID in relation to the sagittal plane were observed.

The purpose of the present cross-sectional epidemiologic study was to assess the interproximal alveolar bone level within the dentition of 732 randomly selected adult individuals, stratified according to gender and age. Full mouth series of periapical radiographs were used for the assessments of the relation alveolar bone height/root length (B/R). A computer/digitizer recording method was utilized for the assessments. The results were presented as (i) mean values per age group and gender, (ii) mean frequency of subjects with sites exceeding certain thresholds of bone loss and (iii) cumulative frequencies of subjects with various number and percentual proportion of sites in relation to different B/R-ratio intervals. The results showed a reduction in mean alveolar bone/root ratio with age. The women had a significantly more favourable mean B/R-ratio than men in the ages above 40 years; the women had, however, more missing sites above age 60 years. By older age, there was observed an increased variation between individual mean B/R-ratios. Only a few subjects had a mean B/R-ratio less than or equal to 50%. A subfraction of the subjects in the different age groups had greater than 20% of their sites below a B/R-ratio of 60%. This fraction increased with age.

No abstract

The study was aimed at analyzing intra- and inter-examiner variations in computerized measurement and in non-measurability of alveolar bone level in a cross-sectional, epidemiologic material. At each interproximal tooth surface, alveolar bone height in percentage of root length (B/R) and tooth length (B/T) were determined twice by one examiner and once by a second examiner from x5-magnified periapical radiographs. The overall intra- and inter-examiner variations in measurement were 2.85% and 3.84% of root length and 1.97% and 2.82% of tooth length, respectively. The variations were different for different tooth groups and for different degrees of severity of marginal periodontitis. The overall proportions of non-measurable tooth surfaces varied with examiner from 32% to 39% and from 43% to 48% of the available interproximal tooth surfaces for B/R and B/T, respectively. With regard to the level of reliability, the computerized method reported is appropriate to cross-sectional, epidemiologic investigations from radiographs.

The objective of the study was to analyze the significance of some variables on interproximal alveolar bone height, based on cross-sectional epidemiologic data from a Swedish survey conducted in 1983-1984, in the northern medical care district of Alvsborg county. 723 dentate individuals (92% of the randomly selected dentate individuals) with complete anamnestic, clinical and radiographic documentation were included in the statistical analyses. The computerized method used to measure interproximal alveolar bone height as a % of root length (B/R) provided data at each measurable interproximal surface of the individual teeth. On the population basis, a multivariate linear regression analysis showed that: (i) mean B/R values did not differ significantly between men and women, (ii) B/R value decreased with increasing age at a linear rate of 0.26% (0.04 mm) per year of age, (iii) the higher the calculus index value, the lower the mean B/R value, (iv) the higher the plaque index value, the higher the mean B/R value, (v) level of education, dentist attendance frequency and prevalence of defective margins of dental restorations did not show any statistically significant association with B/R, (vi) individuals attending the dental hygienist less than once every 2 years had higher mean B/R value than individuals attending the dental hygienist at least once every two years, and (vii) current smokers exhibited significantly lower mean B/R value than former and non-smokers. Individuals smoking more than 5 g of tobacco per day had lower mean B/R values than individuals smoking between 1 and 5 g of tobacco per day. There was no statistically significant relationship between snuffing and B/R.

No abstract

The aims of the study were to adapt a computerized system to epidemiologic conditions, for rapid full-mouth measurements of alveolar bone levels from X5-magnified periapical radiographs and to analyze the variations in measurement due to different system components. Full-mouth measurements of interproximal alveolar bone height in percentage of root and tooth lengths were completed within an average time of 15 min per set of radiographs. An analysis of variance showed that the examiner variation in measurement of a linear scale distance was 0.02 mm. The measurement accuracy was different for different distances; each distance (d) measured with this system should therefore be calibrated with the equation Y = -0.007-0.014 (log3d-1.50), where Y is the estimate of measurement accuracy. The present computerized system enabled rapid recordings and demonstrated good measurement precision and accuracy; these are valuable features in epidemiologic investigations.