title: Prevalence of alveolar bone loss in healthy children treated at private pediatric dentistry clinics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of alveolar bone loss (BL) in healthy children treated at private pediatric dentistry clinics in Brasília, Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research included 7,436 sites present in 885 radiographs from 450 children. The BL prevalence was estimated by measuring the distance from the cementoenamel junction (CEJ) to alveolar bone crest (ABC). Data were divided in groups: (I) No BL: distance from CEJ to ABC is <2 mm; (II) questionable BL (QBL): distance from CEJ to ABC is >2 and <3 mm; (III) definite BL (DBL): distance from CEJ to ABC >3 mm. Data were treated by the chi-square nonparametric test and Fisher's exact test (p<0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among males, 89.31% were classified in group I, 9.82% were classified in group II and 0.85% in group III. Among females, 93.05%, 6.48% and 0.46% patients were classified in Group I, II and III, respectively. The differences between genders were not statistically significant (Chi-square test, p = 0.375). Group composition according to patients' age showed that 91.11% of individuals were classified as group I, 8.22% in group II and 0.67% in group III. The differences among the age ranges were not statistically significant (Chi-square test, p = 0.418). The mesial and distal sites showed a higher prevalence of BL in the jaw, QBL (89.80%) and DBL (79.40%), and no significant difference was observed in the distribution of QBL (Fisher's exact test p = 0.311) and DBL (Fisher's exact test p = 0.672) in the dental arches. The distal sites exhibited higher prevalence of both QBL (77.56%) and DBL (58.82%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The periodontal status of children should never be underestimated because BL occurs even in healthy populations, although in a lower frequency.
authors.affiliation: Periodontics Division, University of Brasilia, Brasília, DF, Brazil. mmgcarmo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Maria do Carmo Machado
authors.initials: Mdo C
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: Valéria Martins
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: de Araújo
authors.forename: Márcia Raquel
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Avena
authors.forename: Daniel Rocha da Silva
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.forename: Francisco Valter
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Freitas
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019229:Dentition, Permanent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D016300:Radiography, Bitewing; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D019237:Tooth Cervix / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous