A prospective longitudinal study on periodontal bone height changes in a Swedish population

Background, aims: This investigation was performed to assess longitudinal changes in periodontal bone height in an adult population over a period of 17 years. Methods: In 1973, a random sample of 1000 individuals aged 3–70 years in the city of Jönköping, Sweden, was examined clinically and radiographically to assess dental status and treatment needs. Out of the 574 dentate individuals 15–60 years, 433 accepted the invitation and were re‐examined in 1989–91, 4 were edentulous and the study therefore finally included 429 dentate individuals. The examination included full mouth plaque and gingivitis scores and bone height measurements on full mouth intra‐oral radiographs. All age groups except the youngest had very good oral hygiene with 50% or more having plaque and gingivitis scores below 20%. Results: From the age of 20, there was a general pattern of bone height reduction over time corresponding to an annual loss of around 0.1 mm. From the age of 30 years, about 80% of the population had one or more sites with bone loss of 10% or more. Very few individuals, about 5%, exhibited an individual mean bone loss of 2 mm or more. 17% had 6 such sites indicating destructive periodontal disease. These individuals and sites could not be identified in advance based only on previous disease experience.