title: Periodontal conditions in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to compare the periodontal conditions in a group of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients with those in a control group of healthy subjects (CTR).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-two patients with JIA and 24 controls were selected. The measurements used to diagnose periodontal disease included plaque and bleeding scores, probing depths (PDs) and clinical attachment loss (CAL). Laboratory indicators of JIA activity included the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and capsule-reactive protein (CRP). The Mann-Whitney test was used to evaluate the data (alpha = 0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean ages were 15.9 (+/- 2.7) years and 14.7 (+/- 2.3) years for groups JIA and CTR, respectively. The median ESR was 42 mm/h 13 mm/h in the CTR group (p = 0.032) and the median CRP was 1.9 and 0.4 mg/l, respectively (p = 0.001). The prevalence of patients with a proximal attachment loss of 2mm or more in the JIA group was 25% and in controls it was 4.2%. The mean percentages of visible plaque and marginal bleeding were similar in the JIA (54 +/- 22 and 30 +/- 16, respectively) and CTR groups (44 +/- 18 and 29 +/- 11, respectively). The mean percentages of sites with PD > or = 4 mm were significantly higher in the JIA group (3 +/- 4.7) than in the CTR group (0.4 +/- 1.7) (p = 0.012). The mean percentages of sites with proximal CAL > or = 2 mm were 0.7 (+/- 1.4) in the JIA group and 0.001 (+/- 0.2) in the CTR group (p = 0.022).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adolescents with JIA present more periodontal attachment loss than healthy controls, in spite of similar plaque and marginal bleeding levels.
authors.affiliation: Division of Periodontology, Institute of Odontology, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden. leticia.miranda@ofa.ki.se
authors.forename: Letícia A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Ricardo G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Flávio R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Sztajnbok
authors.forename: Carlos Marcelo S
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Figueredo
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D010520:Aggressive Periodontitis / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000150:complications*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D006801:Humans; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D016037:Single-Blind Method