title: Left-to-right distribution of periodontal disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Symmetry is a property established in many human biological systems and it is reasonable to expect that it may also exist in the mouth. The objective of this study was to examine whether there is a similar left-to-right distribution in periodontal disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of 197 patients from the Periodontics department of The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne were analysed. The clinical parameters recorded were pocket probing depth, recession, bleeding on probing, mobility and furcation involvement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age of our sample group was 47.5 years old, with 34.5% men and 65.5% women. The results demonstrated significant left-to-right distribution with all the periodontal indices recorded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings support previous studies that show that a similar left-to-right distribution exists in the population studied.
authors.affiliation: Periodontics, Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia. idarby@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: I B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Darby
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polster
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Henein
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heredia
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Horina
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sanduja
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radvar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth / Q000473:pathology; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000473:pathology*; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000473:pathology*; D010519:Periodontium / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult