Bennett, David

Borsanelli, Ana C.

Dutra, Iveraldo S.

King, George

Lappin, David F.

Parkin, Timothy

Riggio, Marcello P.

Viora, Lorenzo

English

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Age Reflects on the Occurrence of Bovine Periodontal Lesions

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Age reflects on the occurrence of bovine periodontal lesionsLorenzo Viora1, Ana C. Borsanelli2, Timothy Parkin1, David F. Lappin3, David Bennett1, George King1, Iveraldo S. Dutra2,, Marcello P. Riggio31School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, UK  2São Paulo State University (Unesp), School of Veterinary Medicine, Brazil3Dental School, University of Glasgow, UKIntroduction Bovine periodontitis is a progressive infectious process that causes cumulativealterations seen in herds raised extensively in several countries and readily seenslaughtered animals (1). The periodontal lesions that develop throughout the productivelife of animals can be characterised by the formation of periodontal pockets, gingivalrecession, clinical attachment loss and premature loss of teeth. As a polymicrobialinfection, its aetiology and pathogenesis are associated with the presence of a biofilm,periodontal pathogens and immune-inflammatory mechanisms. In periodontal disease,epidemiological studies are important to describe the health status of populations,elucidate the aetiology of the disease, identify risk factors, manage its occurrence anddesign control measures (2). Periodontal disease is common in cattle with a prevalenceof 12% reported in one study (3). No published study has investigated the risk factorsassociated with periodontitis in cattle or other ruminant species.Materials and methodsFrom 250 cattle examined in an abattoir in the West of Scotland, 35 dental arches withperiodontal lesions and 40 considered periodontally healthy were selected. Logisticregression analysis was used to evaluate the association between the independentvariables, gender, age and breed with periodontitis.ConclusionsIt is likely that bovine periodontitis has a significant impact on the welfare of affectedanimals, as it can be a painful, chronic condition leading to difficult feeding andconsequent loss of body condition and weight, increased susceptibility to disease andreduced productivity. Oral pain may have only subtle effects on cattle behaviour, andthus the disease is easily ignored or neglected. Logistic regression analysisdemonstrated that periodontitis lesions are more prevalent with increasing age of cattle.We hypothesise that increasing age may not represent a risk factor per se for thedevelopment of bovine periodontitis but may simply reflect the cumulative exposureover time to environmental risk factors.Figure 2: A sample of pictures taken from animals affected by periodontal diseaseTable 1: Distribution of breed and sex of 75 cattle with periodontal lesions (n=35) and periodontally healthy (n=40) selected from 250 slaughtered animals in ScotlandAim of the studyThe present study was conducted to evaluate some possible risk factors associatedwith the occurrence of periodontal lesions in cattle slaughtered in the West of Scotland.References1. Ingham B. Abbatoir survey of dental defects in cull cows. Vet Rec.2001;148:739−742.2. Fadden AN, Poulsen KP, Vanegas J, Mecham J, Bildfell R, Stieger-Vanegas SM.Dental pathology in conventionally fed and pasture managed dairy cattle. Vet Rec.2015;178:1−7.3. Borsanelli AC, Viora L, Lappin DF, Bennett D, King G, Dutra IS, Riggio MP.Periodontal lesions in slaughtered cattle in the West of Scotland. Vet Rec. 2016; Doi10.1136/vr.103931.Table 2: Frequency and location of periodontal lesions in 35 animals slaughtered in the West of Scotland.*PM1, first premolar; PM2, second premolar; PM3, third premolar; M1, first molar; M2, second molar;M3, third molar, 1I, first incisor; 2I, second incisor; 3I, third incisor; 4I, fourth incisor.ResultsThe average age of animals with periodontitis was 7.4 years (range 1.5 to 16.5 years)and for periodontally healthy animals was 2.9 years (range 1.4 to 10.6 years). A widerange of breeds was identified, the most prevalent being Limousin, Holstein-Friesianand Aberdeen Angus. For statistical analysis, the 75 animals were grouped into twocategories, dairy (n=20) or beef (n=55) cattle (Table 1). Age of animals was significantlyassociated with the presence of periodontal lesions. For every year of age, cattle were1.53 times more likely to have periodontitis (p<0.001). Gender was not significantlyassociated with periodontitis (p=0.887). Regarding the breed type, beef cattle were 0.36times as likely to have periodontitis compared to dairy cattle (p=0.054). A higherprevalence of periodontal lesions in the 35 affected animals was observed betweenright mandibular third premolar and first molar (40%), between right maxillary thirdpremolar and first molar (28.6%), at the left maxillary third premolar (28.6%) and at theright first incisor (28.6%) (Table 2).Figure 1: Example of periodontal pocket and gingival recession in a cow affected by periodontal diseaseUniversity of Glasgow, charity number SC004401

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Age Reflects on the Occurrence of Bovine Periodontal Lesions

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