Prevalence of periodontitis in high school children in Saudi Arabia: a national study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of periodontitis is rather infrequent in children and adolescence and increases with age. We conducted this study because there have been few epidemiological studies on prevalence of periodontitis in children in Saudi Arabia. OBJECTIVE: Determine the prevalence of periodontitis in high school children in Saudi Arabia. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, using cluster and multistage sampling. SETTING: High school children in Saudi Arabia. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Periodontal examinations were conducted on a randomized sample of high school children between the ages 15 to 19 in Saudi Arabia. The study spanned from September 2012 to January 2016. Clinical examinations included measurements of the probing depth (PD) percentage of PD ≥4 mm per patient. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence of periodontitis (PD ≥4 mm and CAL ≥1 mm), the mean percentage PD ≥4 mm, the mean percentage CAL ≥1 mm, plaque index (PI) and gingival index (GI). SAMPLE SIZE: 2435 high school students. RESULTS: Of 2435 high school children in the sample, 209 students (8.6%) had periodontitis. The mean (standard deviation) for the PD was 0.59 (0.17) mm. Differences in percentage PD ≥4 mm and CAL ≥1 mm were greater in students with periodontitis ( P <.001). The prevalence of periodontitis was higher among non-Saudis, students who did not brush their teeth and did not visit their dentist regularly. In the bivariate analysis, periodontitis was positively associated with GI, PI, number of teeth extracted, mean percentage PD ≥4 mm, and mean PD. However, in the multivariate analysis, tooth brushing was the main factor protective against periodontitis (odds ratio: 0.62, 95% CI 0.42-0.92, P =.017). CONCLUSION: Periodontitis prevalence was high compared with Western countries in a nationally representative sample of high school students in Saudi Arabia. LIMITATIONS: Partial mouth study design, which may underestimate the disease prevalence. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.

Gingival health and oral hygiene practices among high school children in Saudi Arabia

“…A detailed sampling design was reported in an earlier study. 25 We followed a multistage clustered sam-pling design to guarantee an adequate representation of all children in the country within the specified school grades. The study focused mainly on large cities in each region.…”

“…Of the 2435 study subjects, 209 (8.6%) had periodontitis as reported earlier. 25 Table 2 shows the the prevalence of slight, moderate, and severe gingivitis and the relationships of other variables to severity of gingivitis in 2226 subjects. The remaining subjects who had periodontitis, another form of periodontal diseases, were excluded and reported in an earlier study.…”

Predictors and Reasons of Permanent Tooth Extraction Among High School Children: A National Cross Sectional study

“…Tooth loss can provide information regarding the availability of dental care, the prevalence of dental disease, and attitudes toward tooth loss. In the present study, 24% of the students had extraction of at least one permanent tooth, while it was 40.9% in cross sectional study that was carried out in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia on same age group [11,16] .…”

“…The study spanned from September 2012 to January 2016. A "Multistage Clustered Sampling Design" was employed and was reported in detail in an earlier report [11] . The total number student in the selected cities were: Riyadh (n=713), Jeddah (n=657), Dammam (n=506), Abha (n=297) and Tabuk (n=262).…”

“…Periodontal diseases, including periodontitis and gingivitis, and caries which have been reported to be high in the Saudi population, and in developing countries (e.g. India) [10,11] , are the main cause of dental extractions. However, caries and periodontal disease seem to cause almost equal percentages of tooth loss, in another group of countries, such as the United States [12] .…”