Juvenile periodontitis: an epidemiological study in the west Midlands of the United Kingdom.

The prevalence of juvenile periodontitis was studied in a sample of 7266 school children in the cities of Coventry and Birmingham. The subjects were aged 15 to 19 years, and represented the range of different ethnic groups seen in the population of the West Midlands. A two-stage diagnostic procedure was used, whereby subjects were screened initially by assessment of probing depths around the incisors and first molars. Positive subjects were then diagnosed definitively by full clinical and radiographic examination. In both Coventry and Birmingham, there was an overall prevalence of juvenile periodontitis of 0.1%, with 95% confidence, which gives a range between 0.03 and 0.17. There was a highly significant difference in prevalence between ethnic groups, with overall prevalence figures of 0.02% for the Caucasian group, 0.8% for the Afro-Caribbean group and 0.2% for the Asian group. There was no difference in prevalence between male and female.