Menopause: A risk factor for periodontal disease? [Menopausa: Fator de risco para doença periodontal?]

Abstract

Purpose: To verify if there is a relationship between the clinical periodontal parameters and estrogen levels and bone mineral density (BMD). Methods: Forty-six post-menopausal women aged 44 to 68 years (52.2±4.8) and 15 women aged 35 to 54 years (44.7±7.5) were evaluated. Periodontal parameters like probing depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), and missing teeth (MT) were compared with estrogen levels (sufficient and insufficient) and BMD (normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic). Data of the mean difference between the groups were compared by the Aspin-Welch test. Results: The means of PD, CAL and MT, when associated with the normal (2.1±0.5; 2.9±1.4 and 10.6±5.0), osteopenic (2.3±0.7; 3.0±1.1 and 12.8±5.1) and osteoporotic BMD (2.4±0.6; 2.7±0.9 and 14.3±5.7), did not show statistical difference (p>0.05). A significant difference was found between the control group and postmenopausal women for CAL and MT. When compared with the estrogen levels the results did not show a difference regarding the periodontal parameters. Conclusion: Although some studies showed a positive correlation with osteoporosis and estrogen level, in this population of menopausal women these findings were not confirmed.