title: Causes of tooth extraction at a tertiary care centre in Pakistan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the frequency of common causes of permanent tooth extraction and severity of dental condition at the time of tooth extraction.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Punjab Dental Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from February to June 2010, and involved 1026 patients who were referred for the extraction of permanent teeth. The inclusion criteria comprised caries, periodontitis, restoration failure, trauma, and local pathologies, while 3rd Molar impactions, supernumerary tooth extraction and extractions done as part of orthodontic or prosthodontic treatment were excluded. Oral hygiene was recorded using the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index. SPSS version 17 was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the study population was 46.60 +/- 11.321 years, and there were 611 (59.6%) males. A total of 1178 teeth were extracted. Advanced dental caries was the leading cause of tooth extraction (n = 743; 63.1%), followed by periodontitis (n = 309; 26.2%) restoration failure (n = 54; 4.6%), trauma (n = 38; 3.2%) and miscellaneous local pathologies (n = 34; 2.9%). More than half of the patients (n = 540; 52.6%) had poor oral hygiene.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Advanced dental caries is the most common cause behind tooth extraction.
authors.affiliation: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, Punjab Dental Hospital, Lahore. dr.haseeb@gmail.com
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haseeb
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Muhammad Faisal
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Munir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009911:Oral Hygiene Index; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014095:Tooth, Impacted / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D014096:Tooth, Supernumerary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult