Relationship of serum antibody to attachment level patterns in young adults with juvenile periodontitis or generalized severe periodontitis.

The goal of this study was to relate attachment loss patterns in early onset periodontitis subjects (juvenile periodontitis n = 47 and severe (generalized) periodontitis n = 52) with antibody reactivities to 25 bacterial strains which were suspected periodontal pathogens. The 25 antibody reactivities were screened by correlation analysis. Eleven strains were found to be significantly related to attachment loss. Using these 11 reactivities, stepwise multiple linear regression with plaque and age as covariates was used to further relate the reactivities within each subject group. Plaque was significantly related to the number of teeth with slight, moderate, or severe attachment loss. A significant inverse relationship was found between antibody reactivity with Haemophilus actinomycetemcomitans Y4 and the number of teeth having slight or moderate attachment loss. Similarly a significant inverse relationship between antibody reactivity with Bacteroides gingivalis and the number of teeth having moderate or severe attachment loss was found. The inverse relationship between the two antibody reactivities and attachment loss patterns were independent of the positive relationship of plaque. These relationships suggest that the failure to mount a substantial antibody response to these organisms leads to greater and more widespread periodontal disease in early onset periodontitis subjects.