Morphological study of proximal root grooves and their influence on periodontal attachment loss.

BACKGROUND

The etiology of periodontal diseases is multifactorial including both systemic and local causes. Local factors such as grooves on root surfaces contribute a great deal to the causation of periodontal diseases.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Proximal radicular grooves were studied in 150 extracted maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth. Periodontal attachment loss was measured after staining the root surfaces with 0.1% toluidine blue stain. The relationship of the presence and absence of grooves with periodontal attachment loss was also studied.

RESULTS

The prevalence of proximal root grooves was found to be 86.67%. The prevalence of grooves on maxillary teeth was 43.42% and on mandibular teeth was 56.67%. A greater loss of attachment was present on grooved surfaces than on nongrooved surfaces.

CONCLUSION

The proximal radicular grooves present as one of the major etiological factors in periodontal diseases.