A study on relationship between subjective periodontal health status and objective periodontal index among adult

Abstract

The aim of the study was to confirm the relation of subjective periodontal

symptoms to objective periodontal index by comparing personal periodontal

evaluation and actualoral health examed in the dental office.

Two hundred and fifteen outpatients were selected for this study and

confirmed by Institutional Review Board in Ajou UniversityHospital. They

were surveyed by confirmed questionnaire and examined forcommunity

periodontal index(CPI).

In the study, the independent variables include general demographic data,

oral health behaviors, subjective perceptions, and experiences with treating

a systematic or periodontal disease, and the dependent ones include

subjective periodontal symptoms and objective periodontal index. The

revised and supplemented questionnaire was confirmed for reliability and

validity. Statistical treatment methods employed in the study were descriptive statistics for each variable, cross-tabulation to check differences between variables, simple correlation analysis for relation between subjective periodontal symptoms and objective periodontal index, and simple linear regression analysis to check the effects of the independent variables on the dependent ones.

The high age group and the dental treatment group showed common

symptoms, "food impaction" and "toothmobility". The lower age group, no

recent treatment group(1year), no scaling group, and the no regular

check-up group were all aware of "presence of calculus" inside the mouth.

CPI was relatively high in the high age group and tooth extraction group.

No scaling group recorded a relatively higher CPI than scaling group. CPI

was relatively high among those who had hypertension or diabetes. The

more negative perceptions they had of their toothbrushing, the lower their

CPI was.

CPI had positive(+) correlations with subjective periodontal statuses such as bleeding on toothbrushing, food impaction, gingival pain, tooth mobility,

gingival swelling, and the degree of tooth malposition(p<.05,p<.01).

Conclusively, there were many corresponding but not the same aspects

between subjective symptoms and objective periodontal index, which

necessitates a adequate oral health education.