Eating disorders have recently become an important public health issue. Anorexia Nervosa, bulimia, and bulimarexia currently effect approximately 500,000 individuals in the United States, with over 5,000 deaths attributed to these disorders yearly. The overall objective of this investigation, is to provide epidemiologic data of the oral manifestations of eating disorders which could help dentists and other health professionals identify potential victims. No controlled clinical studies exist which have compared soft tissue and periodontal evaluations of eating disorder patients with age matched healthy controls.
The specific aim of this study is to compare the incidence of soft tissue abnormalities, periodontal status, and specific oral microbiota of fifty eating disorder patients (EDP) with fifty age matched healthy controls (C). Anorexia, bulimia, and bulimarexia are most prevalent among college age females, therefore, the majority of the age matched controls will come from this same population group. Since young women have a high incidence of iron deficiencies, potential controls will be screened for serum iron and total iron binding capacity prior to entry into the study. Clinical and microbial evaluations will be done on Day 0, and at approximately 8 weeks, or upon release of the eating disorder patient from the hospital unit. Intra-oral and peri-oral soft tissue abnormalities, mobility, gingival recession, and tooth erosion (periomylolysis) will be recorded for all subjects. Gingival Indices, Plaque Indices, probing depths, attachment levels, and subgingival plaque samples will be taken at the six designated Ramjford teeth. Plaque samples will be evaluated for Bacteroides gingivalis by immunofluorescence microscopy, and bacterial motility will be determined using a flagella stain. Results of this investigation are expected to provide new diagnostic criteria that could be used in the early identification of individuals with eating disorders.
