Oral Hygiene, Periodontal Health and Dental Utilization Pattern Among Dental Patients in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the periodontal health and oral hygiene status of participants who attended University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Rivers State. Also, to evaluate the association between dental service utilization with periodontal health and oral hygiene status of the participants.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among one hundred and thirty-six participants selected using convenience sampling method Data was collected using semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire had two sections: section A included information on socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, marital status, highest education) and section B included intraoral examination to determine the simplified oral hygiene status (OHIS) and community periodontal index (CPI). 
Results: One hundred and thirty-six participants (63 males and 73 females) participated in the study, with a M: F ratio of 1:1.16. Mean age was 42.3 ± 17.3 years. Ninety (66.2%) participants had fair OHI-S, while 26 (19.1%) presented with poor OHI-S.  Sixty-five (47.8%) and 38 (27.9%) of the participants presented with CPI 2 and 3 respectively. Most of the participants; 81 (59.6%) had gingivitis and 51 (37.5%) presented with periodontitis, while only 4 (2.9%) participants had healthy periodontium. Good oral hygiene was more common among the younger age group, while the older age group presented with poor oral hygiene, (p = 0.190). Comparing CPI across the age groups, most of the younger age group had CPI 0, while more older age group had CPI 4. Thirty-seven (27.21%) of the participants had never visited the dental clinic before, while 99 (72.8%) participants had visited the dental clinic before. There were weak negative correlations, between dental visitation and CPI (r = -0.108, p =0.211) and periodontal health (r = -0.148, p = 0.085). While there was a very weak linear relationship, between dental visitation and OHI-S (r = 0.018, p = 0.831)
Conclusion: Most of the participants had fair oral hygiene status, CPI 2 and gingivitis, only few participants had healthy periodontium. Most of the younger age group had good oral hygiene status, CPI 2 and gingivitis. Regarding gender, more males presented with good OHI-S, while females had fair OHI-S. There was a weak negative correlation between dental service utilization and CPI and periodontal health, but a very weak linear relationship with OHI-S.