title: Periodontal status in post-liver transplantation patients: 10 years of follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the current (t1) periodontal status of post-liver transplantation patients to their status 10 years earlier (t0).
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventeen patients 45 to 71 years of age who were evaluated approximately 10 years previously were enrolled in the study. All subjects had undergone a liver transplantation 1 to 10 years prior to the initial examination (t0). Clinical and radiographic parameters were recorded for the Ramfjord Index teeth and compared between t0 and t1, including Plaque Index (PI), Gingival Index (GI), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and gingival overgrowth (GO). Bone loss was measured on digitized images of panoramic radiographs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean PI, GI, CAL, and GO were slightly lower at t1 than at t0; however, these differences were not statistically significant (P > .05, Student t test for paired observations). The mean PD was reduced at t1 (2.43 ± 0.18 mm) compared with t0 (3.35 ± 0.22 mm), which was statistically significant (P = .001, Student t test for paired observations). To the contrary, the mean radiographic bone loss at t1 was higher than at t0 (5.61 vs 4.48 mm, respectively), which was also statistically significant (P = .017). Tooth loss was observed in some of these patients, ranging from 0 to 4 during the 10 years of follow-up, which amounted to an annual rate of 0.24 teeth per patient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Post-liver transplantation patients maintained stable clinical periodontal parameters during a 10-year period; however, some radiographic bone loss occurred during this time.
authors.affiliation: Israeli Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. eli_machtei@hsdm.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Eli E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Machtei
authors.forename: Maher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falah
authors.forename: Orit
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oettinger-Barak
authors.forename: Yaacov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Baruch
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horwitz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss; D003773:Dental Plaque; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005886:Gingival Hypertrophy / Q000139:chemically induced*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket; D016388:Tooth Loss
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents