Relationship of mental stress and anxiety with periodontitis

Introduction: Periodontitis is an ailment with multiple factors where bacterial dental plaque is marked as the main causative agent for the beginning of this inflammatory phenomena, but also the host defense and environmental components takes part in the progress of disease. Among the environmental factors stress is a considerable factor that regulates the host defense mechanism through hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis and can play role in the development of periodontitis. Objectives: To determine the relationship between mental stress and anxiety with Periodontitis. (Chronic localized Periodontitis) Methodology: A total of 118 respondents were included in this correlational cross-sectional study. The subjects who fulfilled the inclusion criteria underwent periodontal examination by means of probing depth for presence of chronic localized periodontitis and were asked to fill the 42-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) questionnaire to check association between mental stress, anxiety and its related symptoms with periodontitis. Results: Some participants showed normal range in DASS Scale and some showed mild and moderate levels of depression, stress and anxiety. However, we found that higher the value of depression, anxiety and stress, higher was the value of probing depth. Conclusion: There was positive correlation between mental stress and anxiety with periodontitis. However, Depression was found to have a slightly more association with Periodontitis. Moreover, further studies can be done to determine link between mental stress and its related symptoms with periodontitis. Keywords: Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Periodontitis, Probing depth, DASS.