Hypophosphatasia and Oral Health

Hypophosphatasia patients with a genetic predisposition are at higher risk of periodontitis and tooth loss than the general population, suggests a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

Study Overview

This study evaluated the oral health status of adult patients with hypophosphatasia (HPP). Parameters of oral health assessment comprised decayed/missing/filled teeth (DMFT) index, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level (CAL) as well as documentation of tooth loss and periodontal health status according to CCD/AAP criteria. Findings were compared with national reference data (DMS V survey) reporting oral health status in age-related controls. Within-group comparisons were made between the HPP patients harbouring one versus two alkaline phosphatase liver/bone/kidney type (ALPL) gene variants.

Results

Of 80 HPP patients (64 female) with a mean age of 46.4 years (range 24–78) and one (n = 55) or two (n = 18) variants (n = 7 lacking testing) within the ALPL gene, those with two variants displayed substantially higher tooth loss rate (14.0 ± 9.3) than those affected by only one ALPL variant (4.1 ± 5.4), who did not differ substantially from healthy DMS V controls.

While DMFT score and severe periodontal diseases (PDs) of HPP patients with one variant only increased with progressing age, the two-variant sub-cohort age independently exhibited increased DMFT scores and a higher rate of severe PDs.

HPP patients affected by two variants of the ALPL gene exhibited a higher risk of periodontitis and tooth loss than the general population, while patients with one variant developed clinically relevant oral disease symptoms with progressing ageing.

Reference

Weider, M., Schlagenhauf, U., & Seefried, L. (2022). Oral health status of adult hypophosphatasia patients: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 49(12), 1253–1261. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpe.13718

Keywords

• Hypophosphatasia
• Patients
• Genetic
• Predisposition
• Higher risk
• Periodontitis
• Tooth loss
• The general population
• Weider, M.
• Schlagenhauf, U.
• Seefried, L.
• Journal of Clinical Periodontology