Juvenile periodontitis: an historical review

Abstract

A review of the literature on juvenile periodontitis has been undertaken. This paper traces the historical development of the appreciation of the condition. Some of the numerous early attempts to define a systemic background are noted, and the concept of 'periodontosis' and its subsequent influence, e.g. on epidemiological and clinical studies are discussed. The refining over the last 20 years of the concept of aggressive periodontal disease in the young is recorded. The patterns of bone loss in juvenile periodontitis and some forms of treatment are presented, together with evidence on its histopathology. Recent research has tended to concentrate on the microbiology and immunological background of juvenile periodontitis and a number of these studies are discussed.

Epidemiology and demographics of aggressive periodontitis

“…Previous studies (45) and more recent surveys consistently report low prevalence rates of aggressive periodontitis in Caucasians compared with other race groups. In the 1986/1987 national survey of US schoolchildren, two studies assessed the prevalence of aggressive periodontitis; both reported that the prevalence was highest among Black Americans (2.6% and 2.64%), followed by Hispanic Americans (0.5% and 1.08%), whereas White Americans had the lowest prevalence of aggressive periodontitis (0.06% and 0.17%) (8,36).…”

“…children, adolescents and young adults have long been described, and several nomenclatures and classifications have been suggested during the past few decades (12,14,15,20,45). The term 'juvenile periodontitis' was widely used following its introduction in the late 1960s and was later included in the 1989 classification system proposed by the World Workshop in Clinical Periodontics (1).…”