Java project on periodontal diseases: periodontal bone loss in relation to environmental and systemic conditions.

OBJECTIVE: To assess in a population deprived from regular dental care the relationship between alveolar bone loss (ABL) and environmental/systemic conditions.

MATERIAL & METHODS: The study population consisted of subjects from the Purbasari tea estate on West Java, Indonesia. A full set of dental radiographs was obtained of each subject and amount of ABL was assessed. In addition, the following parameters were evaluated: plasma vitamin C, vitamin D3 , HbA1c and CRP, the haptoglobin phenotype, presence of putative periodontopathic bacteria and viruses, dietary habits, smoking and anthropometrics.

RESULTS: In this population 45% showed vitamin C depletion/deficiency, 82% had vitamin D3 insufficiency/deficiency, 70% were in a pre-diabetic state, 6% had untreated diabetes, 21% had elevated CRP values ranging from 3.1 to 16.1 mg/l. Results of the regression analysis, including all above mentioned parameters, showed four significant predictors, explaining 19.8% of the variance of ABL. Number of Porphyromonas gingivalis cells and CRP values showed a positive relationship with ABL, whereas BMI and number of guava fruit servings were negatively related.

CONCLUSION: Results confirm previous findings that elevated levels of P. gingivalis may be indicative for periodontitis progression. A new finding is that guava fruit consumption may play a protective role in periodontitis in a malnourished population.