Gingival diseases in childhood - a review

Children and adolescents are subject to a wide variety of gingival infections. Epidemiological studies indicate that gingivitis of varying severity is nearly a universal finding in children and adolescents. The shorter life span of the primary dentition may be the reason why in general little attention is given to periodontitis in children. Since early diagnosis is important for successful treatment, it is imperative that children receive a periodontal examination as part of their routine dental visit. Furthermore destructive periodontal disease occurs in children with certain systemic diseases. Indeed the presence of severe periodontitis may be an early sign of systemic disease. A general medical evaluation to determine if systemic diseases are present should be considered in children who exhibit severe periodontitis, especially if the disease appears resistant to therapy. Though periodontal health awareness and therapy are increasing day by day in our country compared to earlier days, it is much restricted to adults rather than children. Oral cavity examination in children is much oriented in hard tissue evaluation than soft tissue health. Hence, this article enlightens about the prevalence of various soft tissue diseases and importance of long term overall oral health maintenance in childhood.