Periodontal health in an indigenous Sámi population in Northern Norway: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was to describe prevalence, severity and distribution of periodontal disease as well as associated risk factors in an indigenous Sámi population in Northern Norway, and to investigate differences between the indigenous Sámi and the non-Sámi population. Methods: This cross-sectional study included data from the Dental Health in the North study (N = 2078; 18-75 years). Data on Ethnicity, household income, education, smoking habits, dental attendance, and tooth brushing habits were collected by a questionnaire. Periodontal conditions were assessed by clinical examination. A modified version of the new AAP/EFP classification system of periodontal disease was used to estimate the severity of periodontitis. Three stages were used: 'Non-severe periodontitis', 'Stage II', and stage 'III/IV'. Results: Of the total study population 66.5% reported Sámi affiliation. The total prevalence of periodontitis was 49.7%, with 20.1% in Stage III/IV, but no differences between Sámi and non-Sámi. When controlled for sex, age, education, smoking and dental attendance the Sámi had higher probability of having more severe stages of periodontitis; Odds Ratio Stage II (OR) = 1.3; 95% CI: 1.1-1.7; and OR Stage III/IV (OR) = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.1-2.2) compared to non-Sámi. The Sámi had higher prevalence of periodontal pocket depth (PD) ≥ 4 mm (t = 1.77; p < 0.001) and PD ≥ 6 mm (t = 1.08; p = 0.038) than the non-Sámi. Conclusions: The prevalence of periodontitis was high in communities in the core area of Sámi settlement in Northern Norway, regardless of ethnicity. People with Sámi ethnicity had more deep periodontal pockets and an increased odds of having severe stages of periodontitis. Future studies should address possible explaining factors behind the potential higher risk of having more severe periodontitis among indigenous people in Sámi settlements.

How Neoliberalism Shapes Indigenous Oral Health Inequalities Globally: Examples from Five Countries

“…Dental Disease and Dental Health Service Provision for Indigenous Persons in Norway: In Norway's Dental Health in the North Study, there were no reported differences in the prevalence of periodontal disease between Sámi and non-Sámi (50% vs. 49%). However, the Sámi had a higher prevalence of deep periodontal pockets and a higher probability of having more severe stages of periodontal disease compared to non-Sámi [101]. Sámi participants had a lower prevalence of dental caries compared with non-Sámi in the same area.…”

Three periodontitis phenotypes: Bone loss patterns, antibiotic—surgical treatment and the new classification

“…‡ Capital letter as opposed to lowercase letter denotes statistically significant difference (p < .05) between these clusters. Due to the need and difficulty for a collective evaluation of the criteria by an experienced clinician in order to correctly differentiate between stage III and stage IV according to the new classification (Kornman & Papapanou, 2020), we had to combine the two stages of the disease as it was also performed recently in another epidemiologic study (Bongo, Brustad, Oscarson, & Jönsson, 2020).…”

“…Due to the need and difficulty for a collective evaluation of the criteria by an experienced clinician in order to correctly differentiate between stage III and stage IV according to the new classification (Kornman & Papapanou, 2020), we had to combine the two stages of the disease as it was also performed recently in another epidemiologic study (Bongo, Brustad, Oscarson, & Jönsson, 2020). The patients of the current study are patients referred for the initial periodontal diagnosis by general dentists.…”

Correction to: Periodontal health in an indigenous Sámi population in Northern Norway: a cross-sectional study

“…Following publication of the original article [ 1 ], the authors identified an error in the Table 4 .…”