Oral health conditions among people visiting a medical center for health checkups

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the oral health conditions of subjects in a southern Taiwan health checkup program. One half of the examinees were selected randomly for oral examination during a two-year period. There were 537 subjects, including 286 men and 251 women with mean ages of 49.7 +/- 13.5 years and 50.2 +/- 12.1 years, respectively. Oral examinations included periodontal condition and existence of dental caries. The periodontal treatment needs of all examinees were evaluated using the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs system and the World Health Organization periodontal probe. Dental caries examination was performed by the visual-tactile method with a mouth mirror and explorer. No radiographs were taken. All clinical evaluations were performed by the first author, who has experience in all of the indices. The results showed that only 0.7% of the subjects had no need of periodontal treatment, 6.7% had bleeding after gentle probing, and 75.2% presented with calculus, overhanging restorations, or pockets of 4 or 5 mm. The remaining 17.3% had pocket depths of 6 mm or deeper. There was no statistically significant difference between males and females in periodontal treatment needs and the mean number of decayed teeth (D). According to this hospital-based observation, most of the people in the health checkup program were in need of periodontal treatment, including oral hygiene instruction, prophylaxis and root planing. Approximately one-fifth of the subjects needed complex periodontal treatment; there were no differences in the treatment needs of males and females.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)