Age-related expression of juvenile periodontitis.

To test the hypothesis that localized and generalized juvenile periodontitis is one disease entity, the localization of bone loss was measured from orthopantomograms of 88 patients with untreated juvenile periodontitis. Linear regression analysis showed a significant correlation between the age of the patient and the number of teeth with bone loss. Similarly, a correlation was found between the Gingival Bleeding Index scores, the age of the patient, and the number of affected teeth. It is concluded that juvenile periodontitis, known to be genetically controlled, is a disease entity which starts as a localized form with affected first molars and/or incisors and develops, if not treated, gradually to the generalized form of the same disease, which resembles the adult periodontitis.