Objectives:  The prevalence of asthma has increased since the early 1980s across all age, gender, and racial groups.  Studies of the relationship between asthma and periodontal health in Europe and the U.S. have been conflicting. Our objective was to explore the association between asthma and periodontal health in adolescents 13-17 years. 

Methods:  This study used oral examination and health interview data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994 (NHANES 3) on gingival bleeding on probing (BOP), sub (SBC) and supragingival calculus (SPC), probing depth ³ 3 mm (PD), and loss of attachment (LA) ³ 2 mm in 238 asthmatics: 113 (7.1%) mild, 113 (7.1%) moderate, and 12 (0.8%) severe, and 1,358 non-asthmatic controls.  We fit GEE Poisson regression models with adjustment for parents' income, gender, race, exposure to potentially xerostomic drugs, tobacco, and a history of orthodontic treatment.

Results:  We found no association between asthma, the use of drugs commonly used by asthmatics (antihistamines, corticosteroids, antiasthmatic inhalers) and any of the periodontal health measures.  Females had significantly less BOP (OR=0.74), SBC (OR=0.67), SPC (OR=0.76), and PD (OR=0.90) than males and non-whites had more SPC (OR=1.46), SBC (OR=1.29), PD (OR=1.14) than whites.  Subjects who reported no orthodontic treatment were less likely (OR=0.83) to have PD ³ 3 mm than those with past orthodontic treatment. Subjects who reported no tobacco exposure had lower odds of BOP (OR=0.85) and SBC (OR=0.63) than those who reported tobacco exposure.  Subjects who reported no dental visit in the past year had less BOP (OR=0.30), SPC (OR=0.62), and SBC (OR=0.41) than those who had an annual visit.  While our analysis adjusted for covariates, the actual dose of antiasthmatic medication taken and level of compliance could not be assessed. 

Conclusions: We found no association between asthma, medications commonly used by asthmatics, and periodontal health in adolescents.