Saqba Hasan Afridi*, Bashir Rehman**, Qiam Ud Din***
How to CITE:
J Pak Dent Assoc 2010;19(2):110-114.
OBJECTIVE: :
Tooth loss has been one of the major problems faced by the people around the world. Although a preventable disease at early stages, caries still remains one of the prime etiological factors of extraction of teeth. The aim of the present study was to find out the main causes and contributing factors to tooth loss.
METHODOLOGY:
A representative sample of 400 patients attending the Department of Oral Surgery Khyber College of Dentistry Peshawar was selected. The collected information was documented on a specially designed proforma.
RESULT:
In this study 400 patients were recruited. Out of these 204 were male and 196 were female patients. The average age group of extraction was found to be third decade of life (28.75%) while caries (63.25%) was the primary cause of tooth loss. Majority of the patients in this study were poor (46%). Oral hygiene was not good as 40.75% of the patient did not clean their teeth at all while sweet consumption was also notably frequent.
CONCLUSION:
Dental caries is a preventable disease at early stages. Patient education is needed to change attitude from extraction to preservation of teeth as tooth loss is very alarming in young population.
KEYWORDS:
Dental caries, Dental extraction, Khyber College of Dentistry
Introduction
One leading indicator of oral health in adult populations is tooth loss. Much like the decline in activities of daily living that is a final common pathway for a broad range of general health conditions, most dental diseases and conditions finally lead to tooth loss. Tooth loss can substantially affect chewing ability, quality of life, and nutrition1.
Caries and periodontitis, although preventable in early stages, remain the top most causes of tooth loss2, 3. Studies carried out in Canada, Scotland, Kenya, United States, Brazil and few other populations have reported that caries demonstrate a high percentage as compared to periodontitis being the reason of tooth loss4-8.
Oral diseases such as caries and periodontitis which
contribute significantly to the tooth loss, burden the Pakistani population. A survey conducted on 9000 patients in 21 districts of Pakistan showed that caries is 5 times more common than any other serious illness such as asthma9. Rural areas of Pakistan have especially been noticed to have poor health standards10. Extraction was commonly observed in less educated people, who were also partially edentulous11.
The importance of oral hygiene, dietary habits and tooth cleaning should be kept in mind while determining the causes of tooth loss12. The aim of the present study is to determine the main causes of tooth loss, contributing factors, and educating population about preventive measures to preserve dentition for longer periods of time
METHODOLOGY
Detailed clinical and radiological examination was carried out to determine the causes of extraction and the information retrieved was documented on a specially designed proforma. The study was conducted at Department of Oral Surgery, Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar. The duration of the research was 6 months i.e
from March 2009 to August 2009.
The data about permanent and deciduous tooth to be extracted including each tooth type, clinical and radiological features and the patient’s chief complaint about the tooth to be extracted was noted. From this the cause of extraction was determined and documented. Age, sex, address, past medical and dental history, frequency of tooth brushing, other methods of maintaining oral hygiene apart from the use of tooth brush and oral habits such as the use of tobacco, naswar (smokeless tobacco), alcohol intake and sweet consumption were asked. Caries indices (DMFT & DMFS) were determined. Regarding socioeconomic status, the patients were graded as poor, satisfactory and good based on a specific scoring system. Patients with income below Rs 10,000 were graded as poor, from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 as satisfactory and above Rs 25,000 as good. All this data was analyzed by SPSS software version 17. The study design was analytical and it was observational in type. The sample technique was convenience with sample selected on inclusion and exclusion criteria. All those patients undergoing extraction were included in the study while patients not indicated for tooth extraction were excluded from this study
RESULT
In this study 400 patients were recruited. Out of 400 patients, 204 were male patients while 196 were female patients. The male to female ratio of extraction is 1.02:1. (Fig-1).
The highest age group of patients undergoing extraction was third decade of life (28.75%) followed by patients in fourth decade of life (22%). The age distribution of patients undergoing extraction is given in Table-1.
