title: Periodontal status and treatment needs in the Chiangmai/Lamphun provinces of Thailand.
abstract: As part of an oral health survey concerned with the evaluation of a collaborative primary oral health care program, the CPITN system was used to determine the periodontal status and treatment needs of 2009 Thai people aged 12-44 yr. Calculus dominated the CPITN scores. The percentage of persons with healthy periodontal tissues was small, ranging from 0.7% at age 35-44 to 4.1% at age 12. Ranges for other highest scores were bleeding-0.4% at age 35-44 yr to 6.1% at age 12 yr; calculus-62% at age 35-44 yr to 92.6% at age 17-18 yr. Pocketing did not occur to any significant extent until age 35-44 where 23.9% had 3-5 mm pockets and 12.8% had pockets 6 mm or deeper. 15-18-yr-olds who had received prior care from a Village Scaler had a significantly higher number and proportion of healthy sextants than those who had not received such care. No such effect was demonstrated in 35-44-yr-olds. The need for caution in the interpretation of this result is stressed. Attention is drawn to the desirability of differentiating between supra- and sub-gingival calculus in the CPITN scoring system and to the excessive treatment requirements that arise from classifying everyone with calculus as requiring prophylaxis and scaling. A great deal of improvement will need to be affected if the Thai national and global goals for periodontal health are to be achieved in the districts covered by this survey.
authors.affiliation: Intercountry Centre for Oral Health, Chiangmai, Thailand.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Songpaisan
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003728:Dental Calculus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D003729:Dental Care; D012534:Dental Scaling; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D010512:Periodontal Index; D013785:Thailand