Related risk factors of periodontal health in Chinese adolescents

Aim or Purpose: To investigate the related risk factors of periodontal health status among Chinese 12-year-old adolescents. Materials and Methods: The information was acquired from database of the Fourth National Oral Health Survey conducted in 2015-2016. This survey was the largest epidemiological survey ever and covered all 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in mainland China. Totally 27813 middle-school students (12.6±0.2 years old) were enrolled and they received a dental examination including periodontal bleeding and calculus. Clinical examination followed the latest criteria from the Oral Health Survey Basic Methods, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The subjects were also asked to complete a self-answered structured questionnaire for their sociodemographic information, oral health attitude, knowledge, behaviors, and smoking habit. Logistic regression was applied for risk factor analysis. Results: The prevalence of periodontal bleeding and calculus was 58.4% and 61.3% respectively. The mean teeth numbers with gingival bleeding and calculus was 4.3±5.92 and 3.8±4.88 respectively. The prevalence of gingival bleeding and calculus of males were higher than females (59.4% vs. 57.5%, p=0.001, 64.1% vs. 58.5%, P<0.001). Through multi-factor analysis, the results showed that gender, region, ethnic groups, family structure, oral hygiene habit, oral health attitude and knowledge level, and smoking habits were related to periodontal health (P<0.05). Conclusions: The periodontal health status of 12-year-old Chinese adolescents was not ideal. A few factors affected the periodontal status of Chinese adolescents and further oral health promotion for periodontal health was necessary.