Aims and objectives: People in rural areas neglect oral health as they lack awareness on dental diseases and also due to inadequate availability of dental services. The prevalence of illiteracy is also a reason which can be attributed to a poor oral health. This epidemiological study is undertaken to assess the prevalence of periodontal diseases in the rural population of Mustabad - in Krishna, Andhra Pradesh.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study based on randomized sampling method was carried out using the WHO assessment form (1997) on a population of 470. The data were subjected to statistical analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 15.0.
Results: The subjects were 220 males and 250 females. Maximum numbers of subjects were in the age group of 35-44 years (21.91%). Prevalence of periodontal disease was found to be 73.62%. The periodontal status deteriorated with aging. Prevalence of periodontitis was higher in females (56.35%) compared to males (43.65%). Males had a higher prevalence of deep pockets (3.18%), whereas females had a higher prevalence of shallow pockets (3.20%). Females had twice the bleeding tendency (18.80%) compared to males (8.64%).
Conclusion: The increasing prevalence of periodontal diseases is an impending problem which needs immediate intervention, if not it would have a serious negative impact on the future oral health. The need of the hour is more epidemiological studies with a bigger sample are required.
Keywords: Gender; oral health status; periodontal diseases; periodontitis; rural population.