Prevalence of periodontitis and DMFT index in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis Brito F, de Barros FC, Zaltman C, Carvalho ATP, Carneiro AJV, Fischer RG, Gustafsson A, Figueredo CMS. Prevalence of periodontitis and DMFT index in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. J Clin Periodontol 2008; 35: 555–560. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-051X.2008.01231.x. Abstract Aim: To compare the prevalence of periodontal disease and the decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) with those without these diseases. Material and Methods: Ninety-nine CD (39.0 SD Æ 12.9 years), 80 UC (43.3 SD Æ 13.2) and 74 healthy controls (40.3 SD Æ 12.9) were compared for DMFT index and presence of periodontitis. Probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque and DMFT index were measured on all subjects. The presence of periodontitis was defined as having CAL X3 mm in at least four sites in different teeth. Results: Significantly more patients with UC (90.0%; po0.001) and CD (81.8%; p 5 0.03) had periodontitis than controls (67.6%). Among smokers, UC patients had significantly more periodontitis. CD had a greater mean DMFT score (18.7 versus 13.9; p 5 0.031) compared with controls and UC had greater median PPD (2.2 versus 1.7 mm; po0.0001) than controls. Among non-smokers, CD (2.4 mm; po0.0001) and UC showed deeper pockets (2.3 mm; po0.0001) compared with controls (1.5 mm). UC had a greater mean DMFT score (15.3 versus 12.1; p 5 0.037) compared with controls. Conclusions: CD and UC patients had higher DMFT and prevalence of periodontitis than controls, but smoking was an effect modifier. Key words: attachment loss; Crohn’s disease; DMFT; inflammatory bowel disease; oral lesions; periodontitis; ulcerative colitis Accepted for publication 17 February 2008 Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) encompasses two distinct chronic intest- inal disorders: Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) (Podolsky 2002, Bouma & Strober 2003). The pathogenesis of IBD is still elusive as no agent or mechanism has explained all aspects of the disease. However, it is known that distinct immune abnormalities play a major role in the initiation and perpetua- tion of IBD (MacDonald et al. 2000). Extra-intestinal manifestations in both forms of IBD can occur in the joints, eyes, skin, mouth and liver (Greenstein et al. 1976, Veloso et al. 1996, Jiang et al. 2006). Oral lesions may coincide, precede or follow the onset of the intestinal symptoms (Greenstein et al. 1976, Ghandour & Issa 1991, Williams et al. 1991). The prevalence of oral manifestations in IBD varies between 0% and 9% in adults (Basu 1976, Greenstein et al. 1976, Lisciandrano et al. 1996, Dupuy et al. 1999). A high prevalence of caries has been reported in CD patients (Bevenius 1988, Sundh & Emilson 1989, Schu ¨tz et al. 2003); in comparison, little or no infor- mation is known about the prevalence of dental caries in UC patients. To date, Fernanda Brito 1 , Fabiana Cervo de Barros 1 , Cyrla Zaltman 3 , Ana Teresa Pugas Carvalho 4 , Antonio Jose de Vasconcellos Carneiro 3 , Ricardo Guimara ˜ es Fischer 1 , Anders Gustafsson 2 and Carlos Marcelo de Silva Figueredo 1,2 1 Departament of Periodontology, Faculty of Odontology, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 2 Division of Periodontology, Institute of Odontology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Departments of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine; 3 Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; 4 Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Conflict of interest and sources of funding statement The authors declare that there are no conflicts in this study. This study was supported in part by a grant from the Brazilian government: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). Grant no. 3651061 J Clin Periodontol 2008; 35: 555–560 doi: 10.1111/j.1600-051X.2008.01231.x 555 r 2008 The Authors Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard