Periodontitis and vitamin D deficiency are both highly prevalent in Puerto Rico. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the association between vitamin D levels and periodontal disease in Puerto Rican adults. A sex-, age-, and BMI-matched case-control, cross-sectional study was conducted on 24 cases of moderate/severe periodontitis and 24 periodontally healthy controls aged 35 to 64 years. Each participant completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, underwent a full-mouth periodontal examination and provided blood sample to measure serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25 (OH) D) levels to assess vitamin D status. A total of 19 matched case-control pairs (28 females, 10 males) completed the study. Mean serum 25 (OH) D levels were significantly lower in cases (18.5 ± 4.6 ng/ml) than in controls (24.2 ± 7.1 ng/ml; p = 0.006). Lower odds of periodontal disease were observed per unit of 25 (OH) D level (OR 0.885; 95 % CI 0.785, 0.997; p < 0.05). Lower serum vitamin D levels are significantly associated with periodontitis in Puerto Rican adults.

La Histiocitosis de células de Langerhans (HCL), es una enfermedad rara, caracterizada por la proliferación clonal agresiva de células de Langerhans dendríticas de la médula ósea. La enfermedad crea lesiones osteolíticas en donde las manifestaciones orales usualmente están presentes. El objetivo de este reporte de caso es, presentar el seguimiento de cinco años de un caso diagnosticado en el 2014 y una revisión sistemática de literatura de las manifestaciones orales de HCL. Para la revisión sistemática, el argumento de búsqueda con palabras claves como HCL, histiocitosis X y manifestaciones orales, fueron conducidas en cinco bases de datos como PUBMED, LILACS, EBSCO, OVID y SCOPUS. Las manifestaciones orales más comunes son inflamación, enrojecimiento y pérdida de hueso en las áreas afectadas. Es importante mantener un seguimiento periódico en el consultorio dental de los casos de HCL en la población pediátrica. La HCL usualmente presenta manifestaciones orales que pueden ser un signo de diagnóstico temprano de esta condición, especialmente en la población pediátrica.

Background: Obesity and caries have become increasingly prevalent. As of yet, research results on the relationship between obesity and caries in children and adolescents have been inconclusive. This study aimed to evaluate the association between caries and obesity in adolescents.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 187 Puerto Rican adolescents aged 13–19 years, attending, among them, five high schools. Each participant received dental exams for caries using the criteria of the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS), had his or her body mass index (BMI) determined, and took a 19-item risk factor questionnaire. The Significant Caries (SiC) index (for DMFT) was calculated to compare obese and healthy adolescents. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: Nearly 60% of the sample population was female, with a mean age of 15.7 (±1.25). The mean BMI percentile was 72.24 (±28.78); 48.66% of the participants had a healthy weight, 19.79% were overweight, and 30.48% were obese. Dental caries was observed in 68% of the participants; the mean caries index D3-6MFS was 5.17(±5.92) and the mean D3-6MFT was 3.59 (±3.97). No significant differences were found between caries indexes and obesity status (P > 0.05). The median (p25, p75) SiC index among overweight/obese adolescents was 9.5 (7, 12), whereas for healthy weight/underweight participants was 7 (5, 8) (p < 0.005).Conclusions: Based on the limited number of participants, no association was found between dental caries (D3-6MFS and D3-6MFT) and obesity (BMI) among adolescents.