Analysis of Gingivitis Problem - Research Paper Example

? of the Paper s Gingivitis is perhaps the most common form of inflammatory disease affecting the peridontium Based on the longitudinal study conducted by Lang et al, it has been concluded that persistent gingivitis is a risk factor not only for progressive periodontal attachment loss but also for tooth loss. There is no particular age group which maybe prone to this gum disease more than another age group. Population studies conducted in U.S have showed that about 82% adolescents and more than 50% of the adult U.S. population are equally prone to gingival bleeding irrespective of their gender and ethnicity (Alabandar & Rams, p7). The recent developments in pathology, immunity and microbiology have made identification of gingivitis much easier. Almost all children suffer from gingivitis, in at least one tooth, however if treated fast these mild cases of gingivitis do not progress towards periodontitis. During the adult years, the disease become much more harder to categories owing to dearth of data however gingivitis is seen to affect people in their thirties and mid-forties mostly owing to bad eating habits, poor dental hygiene, diseases and smoking. The elderly are also prone to gingivitis owing to life-long cumulative effect and the trend that is comparable to the adult population of the U.S. However, cohort studies have shown a declination in percentage (Stamm,360). The gum disease is dependent on certain risk factors than on gender. Gingivitis affects both male and female though women are slightly more prone towards the disease because of hormonal changes especially during pregnancy. Estrogen produced during pregnancy regulates the working of bodily tissues, disturbs the normal host response towards invasive bacterial growth and thereby increases plaque formation and makes the patient vulnerable to severe gingivitis. Extensive clinical research has shown that during pregnancy, oral tissues are severely affected and though pregnancy itself is not a cause of gingivitis, it is responsible for enhancing gum problems (Laine, 257). However studies have been conducted that have excluded the pregnancy gingivitis i.e. taking non-pregnant females for the study and the results of which have shown that female exhibit lower gingivitis “prevalence and severity than males” (Stamm, 360). Lee et al, had studied the prevalence of gingivitis among the American population and also investigated their severity. The study was gender as well as ethnicity based too. In the study, Lee et al obtained the requisite data from 1000 individuals who represented a diverse U.S population and calculated the GI of males And females and noticed that the GI of the males were slightly higher than that of the females which means that men were more likely to develop the gum disease than females of the same population (Lee et al,9). Gingivitis is a pandemic disease which occurs all throughout the world. Studies that link ethnicity, race and prevalence of gingivitis are very less in number. Gingivitis has often been linked to important factors such as environmental, socio-economic, access to dental care and awareness about hygiene. Therefore, longitudinal studies on race and gum problems are not considered accurate enough. In spite of the problems that arise owing to the factors mentioned above certain studies have been conducted solely to understand the prevalence of the disease amongst populations and which have excluded factors such as economic status, general hygiene etc. Stamm in his article establishes the fact that amongst the U.S population African-American are more vulnerable to gingivitis than Caucasians. He further states that Caucasians are at a higher risk compared to the Hispanic population of the country (Stamm, 360). Lee et al, who had conducted a study to investigate the prevalence and severity of gingivitis among the U.S population using the Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA on ranks obtained conclusive results which showed that African-American population had a slightly higher GI (P Read More