Tobacco Use and Oral Hygiene as Risk Indicators for Periodontitis- A Comparative Study. -

Aim: To assess the tobacco use and oral hygiene as risk indicators for periodontitis of patients attending two Government Hospitals in Bangalore city. Methods: A cross-sectional Hospital based study was carried out in a sample of 600 patients consisting of 376 tobacco user and 224 non tobacco users of both sex of aged 20-60 years old attending two Government Hospitals in Bangalore city. Necessary information was collected about oral hygiene practices as well as tobacco use. Clinical examination for oral hygiene and periodontal status was done using Oral Hygiene Index- Simplified and Community Periodontal Index (CPI). Statistical analysis was done by using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test to find the significance difference between groups and more than two groups respectively. Results: The difference in mean OHI-S and periodontal scores (CPI) among the different groups with respect to age, frequency and duration of smoking was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The difference in Loss of Attachment (LOA) between the tobacco user (both Smoke and Smokeless) and non users was found to be statistically significant (P