Periodontal Health Status of Malnourished Children in Khartoum Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Malnourished children have lower resistance to infection. Malnutrition impairs innate and adaptive defence mechanisms of the host. Periodontal health relies on a delicate balance between the host, environmental and bacterial factors. Compromised host defence responses associated with malnutrition may make the periodontium more susceptible to infectious organisms that are normal components of oral flora. The objectives of this study were to determine the periodontal health of malnourished children, compare it with their counterpart normal, wellnourished and to correlate the results obtained with the degree of malnourishment. Forty five hospitalized malnourished children aged (2-5) years were examined using Plaque Index (PI) and Gingival Index (GI).The presence of oral ulcers was also determined. The results showed that the prevalence of plaque, and gingivitis among malnourished children was more than control group. The Mean Plaque index for the study group was (0.96 ± 0.15) while that of the control group was (0.35 ± 0.09) and the difference was statistically significant, p= 0.002. The Mean Gingival index of the study group was (1.54 ± 0.19) while that of the control group was (0.21 ± 0.07) and the difference was statistically significant, p= 0.02; with a trend to increase with increasing severity of malnourishment. Angular chelitis and glossitis were also recorded. There was some evidence to suggest that periodontal disease progress more rapidly in malnourished children supporting the importance of good nutrition in maintaining an adequate host immune response, and hence better periodontal health. From the results of the present study we can conclude that, good nutritional status and healthy dietary practices combined with removal of the stimuli of the inflammatory periodontal response are important in diminishing the severity of periodontal diseases