Association between sickle cell anaemia and periodontal diseases among 12- to 16-year-old Sudanese children.

Purpose: The principal objective was to investigate the association between periodontal diseases and sickle cell anaemia (SCA).

Materials And Methods: A group of 59 children with SCA (ages 12 to 16 years) were examined and compared to 54 healthy controls, matched by age and gender. Oral clinical examination included: plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), presence of calculus and tooth mobility. Clinical severity of SCA and oral hygiene habits were also assessed.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference between cases and controls in terms of PI, PD, CAL and tooth mobility at the 5% significance level. However, there was a statistically significant association between GI and SCA (P = 0.002). The mean gingival index of SCA patients was 1.35 ± 0.19 compared to 1.18 ± 0.16 for the controls (P = 0.00001). There was a probability of 76.1% that the GI of SCA patients was greater than the GI of controls. The percentage of teeth with PD = 4 mm was greater in SCA patients compared to controls (2.5% vs 0.6%). Moreover, SCA patients had a higher percentage of teeth with CAL= 3 mm (0.7% vs 0.3%). There was a statistically significant association between having mild, moderate or severe gingival inflammation and the severity of sickle cell anemia (P = 0.028).

Conclusions: The results showed a statistically significantly higher prevalence of inflammed periodontium in children with SCA compared to a similar healthy population.