Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Apr 21:10:8.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6831-10-8.

Methodological issues in epidemiological studies of periodontitis--how can it be improved?

Roos Leroy  1 , Kenneth A Eaton, Amir Savage
Affiliations
Review

Methodological issues in epidemiological studies of periodontitis--how can it be improved?

Roos Leroy et al. BMC Oral Health. .

Abstract

Background: This position paper was commissioned by the European Association of Dental Public Health, which has established six working groups to investigate the current status of six topics related to oral public health. One of these areas is epidemiology of periodontal diseases.

Methods: Two theses "A systematic review of definitions of periodontitis and the methods that have been used to identify periodontitis" 1 and "Factors affecting community oral health care needs and provision" 2 formed the starting point for this position paper. Additional relevant and more recent publications were retrieved through a MEDLINE search.

Results: The literature reveals a distinct lack of consensus and uniformity in the definition of periodontitis within epidemiological studies. There are also numerous differences in the methods used. The consequence is that data from studies using differing case definitions and differing survey methods are not easily interpretable or comparable. The limitations of the widely used Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Need (CPITN) and its more recent derivatives are widely recognized. Against this background, this position paper reviews the current evidence base, outlines existing problems and suggests how epidemiology of periodontal diseases may be improved.

Conclusions: The remit of this working group was to review and discuss the existing evidence base of epidemiology of periodontal diseases and to identify future areas of work to further enhance it.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Savage A. A Systematic Review of Definitions of Periodontitis and Methods that have been used to identify this Disease. University of London; 2007. - PubMed
    1. Eaton KA. Factors affecting community oral health care needs and provision. Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health - University of London; 2002.
    1. Macaulay WR, Taylor GO, Lennon MA, Worthington HV, Clerehugh V. The suitability of three periodontal indices for epidemiological studies conducted for planning purposes. Community Dent Health. 1988;5:113–119. - PubMed
    1. Papapanou PN. Periodontal diseases: epidemiology. Ann Periodontol. 1996;1:1–36. - PubMed
    1. Borrell LN, Papapanou PN. Analytical epidemiology of periodontitis. J Clin Periodontol. 2005;32(Suppl 6):132–158. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-051X.2005.00799.x. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources

  NODES
Association 2
COMMUNITY 4
twitter 2