Periodontal disease in migraineurs

Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the extent of destruction as indicated by alveolar bone loss in periodontal disease in migraineurs. The migraineurs were compared to non-migraineurs and also subjects who were attending the clinic for management of toothear. Methods: The study group comprised sixty individuals. Twenty patients fulfilled internationally recognised criteria for migraine, twenty had clinically significant toothwear and twenty controls had neither migraine nor toothwear. The three groups were matched for age and gender. All subjects were non-smokers free from medical conditions or drug therapy known to have an effect on the periodontium. All subjects had an orthopantogram undertaken and these were processed routinely. One investigator (PMcK) examined all films blinded to the clinical details of the subjects. Alveolar bone levels were evaluated as previously described (Mullally & Linden 1996). Bone loss was assessed as a percentage of the expected bone height calculated to the nearest 10% using a modification of the 5 point Schei ruler. The t-test was used to compare differences between the groups. Results: The mean score for bone loss in the migraine group was 9.6 (SD 6.4) which was statistically less than that for the toothwear 14.4 (SD 6.1; p=0.037) or the control group 13.8 (SD 5.9; p=0.022). Conclusion: It is concluded from this radiographic study that migraineurs have less alveolar bond loss than subjects with toothwear or healthy controls.