Age and sex affect the prevalence and severity of periodontal conditions in an academic setting.

Periodontitis, or inflammatory gum disease, affects many adults in the United States and worldwide. Various factors, such as smoking and diabetes mellitus, increase the risk of periodontitis and the severity of its symptoms. To determine if periodontitis occurs more commonly and is more severe according to patient age and sex, the study used health records from almost 8,000 patients attending dental clinics at the University of Texas School of Dentistry (Houston, TX) from 2007 to 2020. The results demonstrated that adult patients who were older or males had periodontitis more often than those who were younger or female, respectively. Periodontitis was also more severe in older or male patients. These results show that older adults and males can be considered vulnerable individuals when it comes to diagnosing periodontitis. Therefore, dentists should pay more attention to these patients, and individualized treatment methods need to be considered for providing dental care to the gums of these patients.