Evaluation of dental caries and periodontal status of individuals with rheumatic disease.

Aim: This study aims to compare the prevalence of dental caries and the incidence of periodontally alveolar bone loss in individuals with rheumatic diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus and familial Mediterranean fever) with those of healthy individuals. Methodology: The study included 324 healthy individuals and 324 individuals with rheumatic diseases between the ages of 16 and 80 who were examined at Selçuk University, Faculty of Dentistry between 2017 and 2022. The intraoral examination and radiographic results of all patients recorded in the Patient Information Management System were analyzed and data were recorded by a single researcher. According to the intraoral visual examination and radiographic results of the patients, periodontal alveolar bone loss was evaluated as present or absent. DMF-T, DF-T, and D-T values were calculated by evaluating the number of decayed (D), missing (M), and filled (F) teeth of all patients on the radiographic records. Statistical analyses of the obtained data were performed with Chi)square test, Fisher exact test, and Mann–Whitney U tests, all of which are non-parametric tests. Results: From the results of statistical analysis of all data of rheumatic)diseased and healthy individuals, statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups in DF-T, D-T, M-T, and periodontal bone loss values (p = 0.022, p = 0.000, p = 0.006, and p = 0.000, respectively). Conclusion: Our study showed that the risk of caries and periodontal disease in individuals with rheumatic diseases is higher than that in healthy individuals. To confirm the results of this study, more detailed interventional studies are needed to evaluate microbiologically and biochemically the relationship between periodontitis and caries risk with rheumatoid diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]