Hematological values in juvienile periodontitis patients in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

In this study, clinical and hematological examinations of forty adolescent patients in the group (15-22) years with established clinical features of chronic periodontitis but without any diagnosable medical disease were done. The patients were divided into two Groups (A &B). Group A were diagnosed as having juvenile periodontitis (JP) while group B had the plaque-induced chronic periodontitis i.e. non- JP and
were used as control. We then compared the following hematological features between these two groups and the expected normal values here in the tropics; White Blood Cell (\VBC)-total and differential, Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and the blood film appearance. According to the general blood examination of both groups, almost all the numerical values were within the normal range as compared to the documental normal value in Nigeria. It was therefore concluded that low lymphocyte responsiveness, lymphocyte dysfunction and a deficiency of neutrophil
chemotaxis as earlier reported may be involved in the pathogenesis of JP rather than the numerical value of these cells. The relationship of periodontal disease to other neutrophil functions such as phargocytosis and bactericidal activity requires further investigation.