The association between inflammatory bowel disease and periodontitis among Jordanians: a case-control study

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is hypothesized to involve immuno-inflammatory alterations, and the condition has been related to increased susceptibility to oral challenges. The objective of the study was to determine the association between the prevalence, severity and extent of periodontitis and both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD).

A case-control study was conducted among patients who attended outpatient clinics at King Hussein Medical City in Jordan during the study period. All participants completed the questionnaire and underwent thorough oral and periodontal examinations. Periodontitis was defined as presence of four or more teeth with one or more sites with probing pocket depth ≥ 4 mm and clinical attachment level ≥ 3 mm. The general linear model multivariate procedure and multivariate binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data.

This case-control study included 260 Jordanian adults (101 with UC, 59 with CD and 100 with no IBD) with a mean (SD) age of 39.4 (0.7) years. The prevalence of periodontitis was much higher among patients with CD and those with UC compared with subjects having no IBD in the age groups < 36 and 36-45 years old only. After adjusting for age and number of missing teeth, patients with CD (odds ratio 4.9, 95% confidence interval 1.8-13.2) and patients with UC (odds ratio 7.00, 95% confidence interval 2.8-17.5) had significantly higher odds of periodontitis than subjects with no IBD. In multivariate analysis, the severity of periodontitis was significantly higher among patients with CD and patients with UC when compared with subjects having no IBD. Ulcerative colitis patients but not CD patients had significantly higher prevalence of deep ulcers in oral soft tissues than the non-IBD group (p = 0.004).

Patients with IBD have higher prevalence, severity and extent of periodontitis compared with those having no IBD.