Pattern of Dental Diseased Among the Patients Reporting To Dental Hospitals at Kurram Agency, Federal Administrative Tribal Area, Pakistan: Multicenter Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: An essential element of general health is oral health which plays an important role in the quality of life. The public health problems associated with oral disease are a serious burden in Pakistan and other countries of the world. The most common diseases in man include dental diseases such as gingivitis, pulpitis and caries. The causes of oral diseases are primarily rooted in poor socioeconomic and physical environment; unhealthy lifestyles and oral health related behavior accordingly the action towards improvement of oral health should be directed towards modification of unhealthy environment and behaviors.

Objective: The main objective of the current study was to determine the pattern of dental diseases among the patients reporting to dental hospitals at Kurram Agency, Federal Administrative Tribal Area, Pakistan.

Materials and Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study to determine the pattern of dental diseases among patients reporting dental hospitals at Kurram Agency, Pakistan. The duration of the study is from 10^th February, 2018 to 25^th May, 2018. Our data collection is based on secondary data from the health records at hospitals and six months’ (August 2017 to January 2018) data of each patient from the health records at all the three dental centers in Kurram Agency, Pakistan was collected.

Results:  Among 1525 patients, 1064 (69.8%) were caries, 208(13.64%) were pulpitis,

107(7.02%) were gingivitis, 81(5.31%) were abscess, 39(2.56%) were pericoronitis and 26(1.70%) were malocclusion. Among 1525 patients, 852 (55.87%) were extractions, 91(5.97%) were fillings, 52 (3.41%) were scaling and 530 (34.8%) received medications. Highest frequency among the treatments were extractions followed by medications prescribed by the dental surgeons.

Conclusion: Caries was the most prevalent dental disease, almost every third patient reporting to the dental hospitals at Kurram Agency were diagnosed with caries, followed by pulpitis however Malocclusion and Pericoronitis was less common among patients than Gingivitis and Abscess.

Keywords: Dental diseases, Cross-sectional study, Dental treatments.