Goodlettsville Dental Services

Periodontitis/Gum Diseasr As A Manifestation Of Systemic Disease

Periodontitis as a manifestation of systemic diseases is one of the seven categories of periodontitis as defined by the 1999 classification system. At least 16 systemic diseases have been linked to periodontitis:

1. Associated with hematologic disorders:
   1. Acquired neutropenia
   2. Leukemia
2. Associated with genetic disorders
   1. Familial and cyclic neutropenia
   2. Down syndrome
   3. Leukocyte adhesion deficiency disorder
   4. Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome
   5. Chediak-Higashi syndrome
   6. Langerhans cell disease (histiocytosis syndromes)
   7. Glycogen storage disease
   8. Chronic granulomatous disease
   9. Infantile genetic agranulocytosis
   10. Cohen syndrome
   11. Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (Types IV and VIII)
   12. Hypophosphatasia
   13. Crohn’s disease (inflammatory bowel disease)
   14. Marfan syndrome

These systemic diseases are associated with periodontal disease because they generally contribute to either a decreased host resistance to infections or dysfunction in the connective tissue of the gums, increasing patient susceptibility to inflammation-induced destruction.

For those patients with periodontitis as a manifestation of hematologic disorders, coordination with the patient’s physician is instrumental in planning periodontal treatment. Therapy should be avoided during periods of exacerbation of the malignancy or during active phases of chemotherapy, and antimicrobial therapy might be considered when urgent treatment must be performed when granulocyte counts are low.