Type of Alcoholic Beverages and Presence of Periodontal Pockets

Objectives: To investigate whether the type of alcoholic beverages or serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) levels associate with deepened periodontal pockets.
Methods: The study included 4,294 dentate, non-diabetic Finnish adults aged 30−65 years who underwent periodontal examination during the Health 2000 Survey. The number of teeth with deepened (≥4 mm) periodontal pockets recorded during clinical oral examination was the outcome. The beverage specific amount of alcohol intake (wine, spirits, and beer/cider/long drinks) during the last 12 months assessed by a self-report questionnaire as well as the serum GGT levels were the exposure variables. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were used to examine the associations.
Results: Relative risks for the association between the amount of wine, spirits, and beer/cider/long drinks intake and the number of teeth with deepened (≥4 mm) periodontal pockets varied between 0.3–1.0, 0.7–1.0, and 1.0–1.1, respectively. GGT levels in this study population were not associated with the number of teeth with deepened periodontal pockets.
Conclusions: No clear association was found between the intake of different alcoholic beverages (amount) or GGT levels and the presence of teeth with deepened periodontal pockets.