Dental Medicine & Dental Implants

Aim or purpose: The accumulation of bacterial biofilm in the dental plaque structure predisposes the individual to periodontal diseases (PD) (LOE et. al.,1986). PD, on the other hand, has been associated with the pathogenesis of systemic diseases such as pneumonia, cardiopathy, diabetes, among others (KINANE & BOUCHARD, 2008). Individuals with special needs are at particular risk for these systemic diseases (ANDERS & DAVIS, 2010). The Santa Luzia Association houses 107 patients with multiple disabilities. As they did not receive daily oral hygiene, the findings of this study allowed the evaluation of the manifestation of PD in its natural evolution in a population at risk.

Materials and methods: This research was approved according to the opinion of the ethics committee 1,868,206. The epidemiological survey diagnosed PD evaluating probing depth and clinical attachment level (CAL) in 6 sites per tooth. Searches were carried out in the medical records to identify pathologies, comorbidities, use of medications and a degree of autonomy through the criterion of Braden (BERGSTROM & BRADEN, 2002) used by the nursing team. The software Prism 5 (GraphPad Software Inc., La Jolla, CA, USA) was used for statistical analysis.

Results: Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's were associated with severity of PD. Co-morbidities such as diabetes and hypertension were associated with higher probing depth and CAL means.

Conclusions: Clinical studies are needed to establish the biological plausibility of the association between neurodegenerative diseases and PD.