Radiographic study of the prevalence of periodontal bone loss in Australian school-aged children attending the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of alveolar bone loss around the first permanent molars, and first and second deciduous molars in Australian school-aged children attending the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne. Method: Nine hundred and ninety-five records were examined for useable bitewing radiographs. From these, radiographs of 542 Australian school children aged 5-12 years were used. The cervical-enamel junction (CEJ) to the alveolar bone crest (ABC) distance was measured using the transparent ruler on the magnifier. Each inter-dental site that was readable was scored as one for the following categories: not available (NA); no bone loss (NBL) - the CEJ-ABC was ≤2 mm; questionabl..