[Correlation between clinical parameters and quantitative analysis of inflammatory infiltrate. Importance in the diagnosis of active periodontal disease].

Recent studies have indicated that the destruction in chronic periodontal disease occurs in relatively short periods of time which are followed of prolonged periods of inactivity. These bursts of activity are characterized by an increase in the inflammatory reaction. It has been the purpose of this paper to study the correlation between the clinical measurements of periodontal disease and the histomorphometric quantification of areas of dense inflammatory infiltrate. The results of this study show that the clinical parameters that measure gingival inflammation or loss of periodontal attachment are useful to distinguish pathology from normal (p less than 0.003), but lack sensitivity to detect burst of periodontal disease activity (p greater than 0.05).