Salivary Biomarkers for Detection of Systemic Diseases

Peer reviewe

TMD-pain among adults in the county of Scania, Sweden

Objectives: This study evaluates the prevalence of TMD-pain in adults in the county of Scania, in the south of Sweden. Methods: A questionnaire was in 2006 mailed to a randomized selected sample of 10 000 individuals in the county of Scania. If the individuals answered yes to one or both of following questions, the subject was classified as having TMD-pain (1) “ Do you have pain in your temples, face, jaw joint or jaws once a week or more?” and (2) “Do you have pain when you open your mouth wide or chew once a week or more?”. The questions have previously shown high validity and reliability for TMD-pain among adolescents. Results: 6123 individuals answered the questionnaire. 1210 individuals (20.4 %) reported TMD-pain. Mean age was 47 years, with a female-male ratio of 7:5. A higher prevalence of TMD-pain was found for the ages 20-59 with the highest figure for the ages between 20 and 29 years. TMD-pain was reported by 19–21 % of individuals born in Sweden or another Nordic country compared to 32 % of the individuals not born in the Nordic countries. Length of education was not related to TMD-pain. A higher prevalence of reported TMD-pain was found for individuals being unemployed, retired or were on sick leave compared to other occupations. Among individuals living with a partner, 19% reported TMD-pain compared to 23% among those living alone and 27% with another family situation. Conclusion: The study found a high prevalence (20.4 %) of TMD-pain among adults in the county of Scania. Highest prevalence (32%) was found among adults not born in a Nordic country

Oral health in the adult population of Skane, Sweden : a clinical study

Objective. The aim of this study was to describe the oral health in the adult population of Skåne by clinical factors with special reference to age, gender, ethnicity and education. Materials and methods. Clinical examinations were performed on 451 randomly selected individuals, 20–89 years old, living in Skåne, Sweden. The clinical examination included a radiographic examination and a questionnaire. Clinical variables were put into cross-tabulations along with age, gender, educational level and ethnicity. Results. For all of the described clinical variables, except caries, the frequency increased with age. There were no differences in the clinical variables due to gender. The frequencies of missing teeth, caries, periodontal conditions and DMFT were higher among those with a lower educational level. More missing teeth, worse periodontal conditions, more apical destructions and less dental fillings were found in individuals who were not born in Sweden. Conclusions. The oral health in the adult population of Skåne was overall good, with low frequencies of oral disease and a large number of remaining teeth up to a high age. The patients' oral health status, as determined by a dentist's clinical examination, differed due to age, educational level and ethnicity, but not due to gender

Dental Treatment Need Among 20 to 25-year-old Swedes : Discrepancy Between subjective and Objective Need

Our aim was to analyze variables from a questionnaire sent to 20 to 25-year-old Swedes to determine how they perceive their oral treatment need, and to determine which variables affect this perception. The questionnaire was sent to 650 individuals randomly selected from the database of the National Social Insurance Board of Sweden. The response rate was 78%. Another questionnaire was sent to the dentists of these young adults in order to collect clinical information. The response rate was 66%. The respondent's answer to the question 'How do you rate your dental treatment need today?' was dichotomized and used as a dependent variable in a multivariate logistic regression model. Each increase in number of decayed- filled teeth led to a 13% increased treatment need, bad oral hygiene a 2.24-fold increase, and no periodontal disease an 80% reduction in treatment need. A higher education beyond comprehensive school increased the perceived treatment need 7.16 times; a poorer dental health than one's contemporaries led to a 14.47-fold increase. When dentist and patient assessments were combined, variables related to the patients' self-assessments were the only significant contributors to the statistical model. A lack of concordance between patients' and dentists' assessments of treatment need was found which highlighted the differences between patients' and dentists' views on treatment need. This study shows the importance of communication between dentist and patient

Dental politics and subsidy systems for adults in Sweden from 1974 until 2016

Aims:The dental health sector, as part of the Swedish welfare system, originated in 1974. Since then, the dental insurance has undergone three major changes. The aim of this archive study was to study where in the legislative process the dental politics concerning national dental insurance and subsidies were formed.Materials and Methods:The material, such as Commission of inquiry proposals and Government Bills from four major dental reforms, was collected from the library at the Sveriges Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) and was analysed and structured using a modified version of the Health Field Model.Results:The views on the fundamental ideas, such as the connection between general and dental health, preventive dentistry, rehabilitation of the mouth and promotion of dental health, were the same over the years. The views on dentistry as a market, when it comes to freedom of prices, have undergone a major change since 1974, but the view on the welfare state remains the same.Conclusions:The Swedish dental subsidy systems and how dentistry has been treated politically are the results of a chain of events ranging from care for the population's dental health, political doctrines, ‘zeitgeist‚, dental policy, to state finances

Long-term Follow-up of Intra-articular Injections into the Tem-poromandibular Joint in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

A long-term (12 years) follow-up of treatment with intra-articular in-jections into the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) of steroid or non-steroid agents was performed in 21 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and symptomatic TMJs. The aim of the study was to compare symptoms, signs and radiological appearance of the TMJ initially and at the follow-up in this group of patients. Eleven patients were as-signed to a steroid group and 10 patients to a non-steroid group. Ini-tial and follow-up clinical and radiological examination procedures were the same. The radiological evaluation was based on a grading system using standard reference films. At follow-up, 14 patients re-ported no pain from the TMJ and positive changes in most clinical variables were found in both groups. Radiographic follow-up exami-nation was performed on 12 patients. Initially, all but 4 of the 24 joints had structural bone changes. At follow-up, 2 joints had lower, 11 joints had unchanged and 11 joints had higher radiological grades. Two out of 5 and 3 out of 10 joints in the steroid and non-steroid group, respectively, showed progression of structural bone changes. Among 9 untreated joints, 6 had higher radiological grades and 3 were unchanged. In the 11 TMJs with higher radiological grades at follow-up, there was in most cases moderate progression of erosive changes. The results suggest that the long-term development of symptoms and signs from the TMJ in patients previously treated was good and the long-term progression of joint destruction was low for both steroid and non-steroid agents in this patient group with RA

TMD-pain among adults in the county of Scania

Introduction: The prevalence of TMD has been shown in epidemiological studies to be 10-15 % and it is most often women in their 20-40´s, but also men, children and elderly have TMD. The most common reason for seeking care for TMD seems to be pain. In a recently published meta-analysis of the epidemiological literature the need for TMD treatment was estimated to be about 15 % among adults. Objectives: This study evaluates the prevalence of TMD-pain in adults in the county of Scania. Methods: A questionnaire was 2006 mailed to a randomized selected sample of 10000 individuals in the county of Scania. If the subjects answered yes to one or both of following questions, the subject was classified as having TMD-pain (1) “ Do you have pain in your temples, face, jaw joint or jaws once a week or more?” and (2) “Do you have pain when you open your mouth wide or chew once a week or more?”. Results: 6123 subjects (64%) answered the questionnaire. 1210 subjects (20,4 %) reported TMD-pain. Mean age was 47 years, with a female-male ratio of 7:5. A higher prevalence of TMD-pain was found for the ages 20-59 with the highest figure for the ages between 20 and 29 years. TMD-pain was reported by 19–21 % of subjects born in Sweden or another Nordic country compared to 32 % of the subjects born in another country. Length of education was not related TMD-pain. A higher prevalence of reported TMD-pain was found for subjects being unemployed, retired or were on sick leave compared to other occupations. TMD-pain was reported by 19 % of married subjects, 23 % of not married subjects compared to 27 % of subjects with another family-situation. Conclusion: The study found a high prevalence (20,4 %) of TMD-pain among adults in the county of Scania

Exploring salutogenic factors supporting oral health in the elderly

Aim To explore associations between salutogenic factors and selected clinical outcome variables of oral health in the elderly, combining Antonovsky's salutogenic theory and the Lalonde Health Field concept. Methods The subjects comprised 146 individuals, aged 60 years and older, who had participated in a population-based epidemiological study in Sweden, 2011-2012, using questionnaire and oral examination data. A cross-sectional analysis used the selected outcome variables, such as number of remaining teeth, DMFT-index and risk assessment, and salutogenic factors from the questionnaire, clustered into domains and health fields, as artifactual-material, cognitive-emotional and valuative-attitudinal. This selection was based on findings from our previous analysis using a framework cross-tabulating two health models. The purpose was to facilitate analysis of associations not previously addressed in the literature on oral health. Bivariate and Multiple Linear Regression analyses were used. Results Numerous salutogenic factors were identified. Significant associations between outcome variables and salutogenic factors previously unreported could be added. Regression analysis identified three contributing independent factors for 'low DMFT'. Conclusions This study supports the usefulness of a salutogenic approach for analysing oral health outcomes, identifying university education, the importance of dental health organization recall system and close social network, as important salutogenic factors. The large number of salutogenic factors found supporting oral health among the elderly indicates the complexity of salutogenesis and the need for robust analysing tools. Combining two current health models was considered useful for exploring these covariations. These findings have implications for future investigations, identifying important research questions to be explored in qualitative analyses