Background: The common periodontal diseases are of public health concern, with 20-50 percent of the global population affected by gingivitis and or periodontitis.
Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the common periodontal diseases occurring among the patients who attended the College of Dentistry hospital of Najran University. And also, to determine the correlation among the age groups, nationalities and risk factors related to periodontal diseases.
Methods: A retrospective hospital-based descriptive type study was performed, providing 352 records of male patients suffering from various types of periodontal diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Periodontology (CDC-AAP) classification was used for periodontal diagnosis. Patients were grouped by age as group A (6-20 years), group B (21-40 years), group C (41-60 years) and group D (above 60 years). Chi-square test and multinomial logistic regression model were adapted for data analyses.
Results: Out of 352 patients, 217 (61%) and 135 (39%) patients suffered from gingivitis and periodontitis, respectively. Mean age of the patients was 32.81 ± 15.96 (range 6-97) years. Sixty-nine (19.6%), 200 (56.8%), 60 (17.0%) and 23 (6.5%) patients of Group A, B, C and D suffered from different forms of periodontal diseases, respectively. Eighty three percent patients were of Saudis and Yemenis and the rest were of Egyptian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Sudanese, Jordanian, Syrian, Chadian, Ghanaian and Tunisian nationalities. Highest number of patients suffered from moderate generalized gingivitis 142 (40.3%) and moderate localized periodontitis 57 (16.2%). Majority had plaque & calculus 290 (82.4%) and the rests had diabetes mellitus, smoking and tobacco chewing habit, asthma, hypertension and heart disease. Correlations among periodontal disease, age group and risk factor were found significant (p <0.05) though between the nationality and risk factor was found not significant (p 0.999).
Conclusions: Significant relationships were observed among periodontal diseases and age, nationality and risk factors. This small study of Najran may reflect the periodontal status in a population of Saudi Arabia. Further broad scale study would be conclusive establishing such relationship in Saudi Arabian population.