Periodontal Status in Patients With Asthma-a Case Control Study

The present study was to determine the prevalence of periodontal disease in patients with and without asthma and to correlate the severity of periodontal disease to the severity of asthma in patients with asthma. A case control study was conducted on 100 subjects who visited the Department of Pulmonary Medicine KMC and the Department of Periodontology, MCODS Mangalore.Subjects were divided into two groups: group1 (50 asthmatics) and group2 (50 nonasthmatics). Each patients underwent Lung function test and periodontal examination(OHI-S,GI,PD and CAL) and the values thus obtained were statistically analyzed. Results had shown the prevalence of periodontal disease was 96% in asthmatics and 78% in nonasthmatics. Significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of OHI-S, PD and CAL(P<0.001), whereas no significant difference was found in GI scores. Patients using only inhalational medication had high odds of getting mild periodontitis. A positive correlation between asthma and periodontal disease was noted. It was also observed that, the type of medication taken by asthmatics influences the severity of periodontitis and not the severity of asthma.