Background: Prevalence of smoking in Sri Lanka shows a gradual reduction whilst the use of smokeless tobacco and areca nut shows an increasing trend. At present adequate numbers of smokeless tobacco / areca nut cessation counseling programs are not being carried out in Sri Lanka. As the Dental surgeons could play a signi cant role in smokeless tobacco / areca nut cessation activities, capacity building programmes for dental surgeons on smokeless tobacco/ areca nut control were carried out. The study was planned to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices related to smokeless tobacco/ areca nut control among dental surgeons. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted. Two questionnaires were used to assess the improvement of knowledge and change of attitudes following programmes on smokeless tobacco / areca nut control. Results: There were 663 participants in the study. 27.1% of them had received formal tobacco cessation training in the past. Majority had a good knowledge on harmful effects of smokeless tobacco but not on areca nut. Their knowledge on the current legislation on smokeless tobacco control in Sri Lanka and carcinogenicity of areca nut was not satisfactory. Almost all agreed that proper counseling leads to patient quitting the habit, a formal training is necessary to conduct tobacco control activities and it should be the part of the regular treatment modalities. More than 80% of the Dental surgeons believed

Globally, around 10-15% of adults aged 21 to 50 years and around 30% of the elderly are diagnosed with severe periodontitis. About 20-50% of the population is affected with periodontal disease. However, there is a lack of actual national data in the UAE on oral health and periodontal health status. To determine the periodontal health status among the Emirati population aged 18 to 65 years. Periodontal health status of the patients with periodontitis was assessed by measuring plaque index; gingival index, clinical attachment loss (CAL) and community periodontal index treatment need (CPITN). All collected data were processed descriptively by presenting in numbers and percentages and analytically by cross-tabulation between variables. The majority of the patients (84%) had a mild level of clinical attachment loss and 54% had probing pocket depth of 3.5-5.5 mm. Moderate loss of clinical attachment was observed in 30.8% of patients with a medical history of diabetes mellitus and hypertension and 10.8% with no medical history. Most of the patients need non-surgical periodontal treatment that is scaling and root planning along with oral hygiene instructions and maintenance to reduce the progression of periodontal diseases.

is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of tobacco use, prevention and cessation that can promote a tobacco free society. The aim of the journal is to foster, promote and disseminate research involving tobacco use, prevention, policy implementation at a regional, national or international level, disease development-progression related to tobacco use, tobacco use impact from the cellular to the international level and finally the treatment of tobacco attributable disease through smoking cessation.

Periodontal disease is the inflammation of the periodontal supporting structures of teeth. An index is an important tool of surveillance system based on the requirements of reliability, simplicity, and validity to screen oral health disease of the population. This paper aims to discuss on various indices formulated to measure periodontal disease from past to present. This paper reviews indices and different recording systems used to measure periodontal diseases at the population level by retrieving articles, selecting, writing, and summarizing the article. The advantages and disadvantages of various indices used for measuring periodontal disease are discussed in this article. Community Periodontal Index is the most widely accepted index used in larger research studies. However, presently, clinical attachment loss is a widely accepted tool for the diagnosis of periodontal disease. Future advances in new screening methods will be able to provide new opportunities in the diagnosis of active and progressive periodontal disease, which will further help in more precise screening of periodontal disease in larger research studies.