Background This study identifies the prevalence and severity of periodontal diseases in a given population of Sulaimani using the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) and attempts to find the relation of CPITN with age, sex, location, visit to dentist, tooth brushing, use of mouth wash and interdental aids, systemic disease, smoking status and missing teeth.
Methods Subjects attending Periodontics clinics at College of Dentistry, University of Sulaimani were examined. Periodontal examinations were performed using CPITN, plaque index (PI) and bleeding index (BI). Other data including location, visit to dentist, tooth brushing, use of mouth wash and interdental aids, presence of systemic diseases, smoking status and missing teeth were also collected. The data were subjected to logistic regression to find a relation between periodontal status (CPITN ≥ 3 or not as dependent variable) and other variables.
Results Among the 1354 subjects (mean age 30.8 ± 12.9 years) examined, 43.6% were male and the majority of these (80.9%) were from urban areas. The mean PI and BI were 0.64±24 and 0.39±0.28, respectively. Calculus was the most prevalent highest score amongst examined subjects (62.2%), followed by shallow pocket (22.2%) and bleeding (9%). Among the sextants, lower central sextants were found to have the highest percentage of calculus (73.1%), followed by lower left (49.7%) and lower right (48.7%). The highest percentages of shallow and deep pockets were found at upper left (14%, 2.5%, respectively) and upper right (11.4%, 3.2%, respectively) sextants. Logistic regression analysis showed that age, sex, frequency of brushing and smoking significantly correlated with CPITN scores.
Conclusion Prevalence and severity of periodontal diseases are high in the examined population and at population level age, sex, brushing and smoking were shown to have an impact on periodontal condition.