Minimum periodontal bone loss in dentally-aware adults. A 10-year prospective study.

A prospective study was performed on periodontal bone height changes over 10 years in dentally aware subjects. 94 subjects, aged 20-60 year, were radiographically examined by means of full mouth surveys at baseline in 1982 and 10 years later. The periodontal bone height evaluated by means of a computerized method was expressed as % of the root length. The mean of all measurements in the individual constituted the bone height value. The mean (SEM) periodontal bone height was 82.8% (0.64) at baseline and 82.0% (0.61) at follow-up. Although small, the periodontal bone height reduction over the 10 year period was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The reduction in periodontal bone height over time ranged from 0.4% (0.87) for subjects aged 30-39 years to 1.3% (0.80) for subjects aged 60-69 year. Only 15% of the subjects exhibited a bone loss > 5% and none > 10%. It is concluded that the rate of periodontal bone height reduction in dentally aware subjects is low. In the vast majority of these subjects, the 10 year bone loss may be considered clinically negligible.