Association of sleep bruxism and dental plaque factors on signs of periodontal disease in children in the mixed dentition.

BACKGROUND

Periodontal disease has a multifactorial etiology; however, dental plaque and possible sleep bruxism (SB) have not been tested together in children as predictors of periodontal disease.

AIM: To assess the variation of SB, dental biofilm (DBF), gingival index (GI), and plaque index (PI) between localized and generalized pathological probing depth (PPD), crestal bone loss (CBL), and lack of delineation of lamina dura (LD) and to establish the association of DBF, GI, PI and SB with PPD, CBL, and LD in children with mixed dentition.

METHODS

Fifty children were assessed for SB and underwent a clinical and radiographic periodontal examination. anova and three multiple variable analysis were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

One-way anova was found to be statistically significant for SB, between localized and generalized PPD (P = 0.03), CBL (P = 0.01), and LD (P = 0.005) and for DBF between localized and generalized CBL (P = 0.02). The three multiple variable analysis showed statistically and clinically significant associations of DBF with PPD (OR = 3.33); GI (OR = 2.37), and PI (OR = 1.46) with CBL and SB (OR = 7.66) and DBF (OR = 9.87) with LD. PI presented statistically significant association with CBL.

CONCLUSION

Significant associations of SB, DBF, GI, and PI with PD, CBL, and LD and the variations of the same factors between localized and generalized PPD, CBL, and LD suggest the necessity of evaluating SB, DBF, GI, and PI when children are screened in regular dental visits.