Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to find the correlation of educational status with severity of gingivitis and plaque score of patients reporting to the periodontology department.
Methods: Cross sectional study was conducted at Islamabad Dental Hospital from May 2018 to May 2019. A total of 376 patients diagnosed with gingivitis were selected using convenience sampling technique. For correlation, participants were equally divided into four educational groups categorized as illiterate, primary, secondary and tertiary. Informed consent was taken from the participants and information regarding socio-demographic data and education level was recorded. Oral examinations included visible plaque index (VPI) by Ainamo & Bay, for severity of gingivitis, the modified gingival index (MGI) by Lobene was used. Severity of gingivitis was categorized into mild, moderate, and severe. Visible plaque score for each patient was calculated as percentage based on presence or absence of plaque which was divided into two categories having plaque score ≤ 30 and plaque score > 30. Correlation was calculated by Spearman’s correlation test with statistical significance of 0.05 at 95% confidence interval.
Results: Moderate gingivitis was most prevalent among all four education groups. Highest percentage of severe gingivitis was observed for illiterate (Syed Fareed Mohsin, Shahnaz Fayyaz, Shazia Nazar, Kefi Iqbal, 2009)group 42(50%) whereas highest percentage of mild gingivitis was observed for tertiary education group 23(65.7%). For patients with primary and secondary education moderate gingivitis was most prevalent with 72(28%). Correlation of education with severity of gingivitis and plaque score was statistically significant (p-value < 0.01) when Spearman’s correlation test was applied indicating that as the education level increased severity of gingivitis and plaque score decreased.
Conclusion: There is a correlation of low educational status with poor oral hygiene and high prevalence of moderate to severe gingivitis. This makes it necessary for the community service programs to incorporate oral health care training in early years of school and to the communities where higher education is far reached.

Key words: Severity of gingivitis, plaque score, education level