The Association Between Psychological Disorders and Periodontitis

Abstract

Background: Although a correlation between anxiety states, stress, and the occurrence of periodontal disorders has been reported, more research on other psychological symptoms seems to be necessary. Objectives: To evaluate the association between psychological disorders and periodontitis. Patients and Methods: In a case-control study, 40 patients with chronic periodontitis and 40 healthy individuals, all between 20 to 40 years old and able to read and write, participated. Clinical examinations were performed by a single examiner. Psychological assessment was done using the SCL-90-R questionnaire. This study was performed in 2011 in Zahedan, Iran. The comparison between groups was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: There was a significant difference between the study groups in the mean scores on 9 psychological disorders. The mean score of the global severity index in periodontitis patients was higher than in healthy people, and this difference was significant. After grouping the individuals into four age groups (20 - 25, 26 - 30, 31 - 35, and 36 - 40 years old), the results showed that the mean scores of psychological disorders were significantly different between the study groups and three of these age groups (20 - 25, 31 - 35, and 36 - 40). Conclusions: This study can be used as a guide for further studies, especially longitudinal studies. It would also be worthwhile to do more studies in different age groups, because research in this area is limited.