European Journal of Dentistry

Periodontal disease is an infectious condition and an inflammatory disorder1 which can increase the risk of systemic problems like cardiovascular diseases,2 cerebrovascular diseases,2 atheroscle-rosis,3 preterm low birth weight,4 and diabetes mellitus.5 These reported associations indicate that periodontal diseases have systemic effects.1 Anemia is a state of reduced hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, reduced number of circulating Objective: There are conflicting reports in the past literature documenting the tendency of anemia in patients with periodontitis. Hence, this study was undertaken to assess whether periodontitis may cause an anemic state, by evaluating and comparing the red blood cell count, levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum iron and serum ferritin between subjects with and without periodontitis. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 140 systemically healthy subjects of both sexes (mean age 46 years) were recruited as control group (50 subjects without periodontitis) and study groups com-prising 30 patients each with mild, moderate and severe chronic generalized periodontitis. Periodon-tal parameters and orthopantamographs were taken for all the groups and then 5 mL venous blood samples were sent for complete blood count and biochemical analysis. Inter-group and intra-group comparisons were performed for all the assessed parameters. Results: The periodontal parameters were significantly higher (P≤.05) in periodontitis patients. Except for the ESR, which was significantly higher (P=.03) in the mild periodontitis group than the control group, hematological and biochemical parameters were not significantly different (P>.05) among the study groups or between the control and study groups. This difference was not evident even among the male and female subjects of both control and study groups (P>.05). Conclusions: Within the limits of this cross-sectional study, it can be concluded that the presence and severity of periodontitis may not affect the hematological and biochemical parameters of an individual. Further long term studies are however encouraged to validate these findings. (Eur J Den