[Periodontal conditions in young sickle cell anemia Senegalese patients]

The oral cavity holds a complex microbial flora including periodontal pathogens. The infectious complications are common in sickle cell anaemia, which reaches 1% of the population in Senegal. The objective of this study is to assess periodontal conditions in young Senegalese sickle cell anaemics.

A sample of 82 subjects aged between 15 and 34 years with mean at 25.2 years +/- 4.6 was made up, including 35 homozygous and 47 non homozygous. Plaque index, gingival index and papillary bleeding index, tooth mobility and clinical attachment loss were assessed. Partial correlation between periodontal indexes and haemoglobin and hematocrit controlling for plaque index was performed.

No significant statistical differences were found for periodontal indexes and clinical attachment loss between the two groups, even if homozygous show higher values. Periodontitis is less frequent in homozygous and odd ratio show protective effect of sickle cell anaemia (OR = 0.381, IC at 95% = [0.130; 1.1 18]). Tooth mobility is significantly increased in homozygous with mean at 1.0 +/- 0.8 versus 0.5 +/- 0.4 in control group (p = 0.000). Partial correlation show significant negative association between haematocrit and papillary bleeding index in homozygous (p = 0.045).

The hypothesis that sickle cell anaemia can affect periodontal conditions and worsen periodontal diseases is to be considered even if it has not been proved as risk factor. Increased tooth mobility could be marker of periodontal risk in homozygous.