Periodontal Disease in India: Report of an Epidemiological Study

¹ National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

1. An epidemiological study of periodontal disease in and around Bombay, India, and in Atlanta, Georgia, was conducted in 1957. The study involved 1,613 males, aged eleven, thirteen, fifteen, and seventeen, in India and 577 males of the same ages in Atlanta. In addition, 63 Indian males, eighteen to thirty years of age, were examined in the rural area near Bombay.

2. Periodontal disease was highly prevalent in both groups but was significantly more severe in India than in Atlanta. Oral calculus was more abundant in the India group, while oral debris was more plentiful in the Atlanta group than in the urban India sample.

3. The rural persons studied in India had more severe periodontal disease, more calculus, and more debris than those in urban India.

4. When groups of similar oral hygiene status were compared, there still was a statistically significant difference between the periodontal disease scores in India and Atlanta, suggesting the presence of other altering factors.

5. The language, religion, method of cleansing the teeth, materials used in cleansing the teeth, and frequency of cleansing had no apparent significant association with the oral hygiene or periodontal disease scores in the India study.