Serum antibody levels to oral microorganisms in children and young adults with relation to the severity of gingival disease.

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the IgG and IgM serum antibody levels to 10 microorganisms involved in periodontal diseases in children and young adults with no systemic disease, but with either minimal/none or severe gingival inflammation. Blood samples from 15 children and 14 young adults were collected. Seven children and nine adults had minimal or no gingival inflammation; the rest had severe gingivitis. Kruskal-Wallis H analysis indicated significant differences among the age groups in the IgM values for all microorganisms and for most organisms in the IgG values. The contrast coefficient matrix values between children and young adults were significant for all the microorganisms for the IgM values and for most of the organisms for the IgG values when the severity of the disease was not taken into consideration. However, when the severity of the disease was also considered, the contrast coefficient matrix values for most of the microorganisms were not significant for both the IgG and IgM values. Age had a more significant influence on the serum antibody levels than the severity of the disease, mostly in the IgM values.