Association between alcohol use and periodontal pockets in Finnish adult population

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether alcohol use is associated with deepened periodontal pockets and whether this association is dependent on age, gender or socioeconomic position (SEP).

Material and methods: This cross-sectional study, based on the Health 2000 Survey, consisted of dentate, non-smoking Finnish adults aged 30−65 years (n = 3059). The outcome was the number of teeth with deepened (≥4 mm) periodontal pockets. The exposure was self-reported alcohol use assessed as amount, frequency, and use over the risk limit. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were used to estimate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Results: In this study, alcohol use did not consistently associate with the number of teeth with deepened periodontal pockets. An association with the number of teeth with deepened periodontal pockets was found among men, older participants, and those participants belonging to basic or intermediate educational groups. An association with poor periodontal health was observed among men or older participants who belonged to the basic or intermediate educational group, whereas such associations were not observed among those participants belonging to the higher educational group.

Conclusions: The association between alcohol use and periodontal health appears to be confounded by individual characteristics such as age, gender, and especially one’s SEP.

Keywords:

• Alcohol consumption
• alcohol use frequency
• risk use of alcohol
• periodontitis
• socioeconomic position

Acknowledgements

This study is part of the Health 2000 Survey, organized by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) (formerly the National Public Health Institute [KTL] of Finland) (www.terveys2000.fi).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interests and have nothing to disclose in this study.

Additional information

Funding

No external funding, apart from the support of the author’s institution, was available for this study. The Health 2000 Survey was partly supported by the Finnish Dental Society Apollonia and the Finnish Dental Association.