Abstract
Aims: To determine the association of root caries, oral hygiene and gingival health among adult populationin Baghdad and Mosul Cities. Materials and methods: A sample of 210 subjects was selectedaged 20 – 60 years, attending the Periodontal Clinic of DentistryCollege at Baghdad and Mosul Universities.For each subject, clinical examination was performed on a dental chair, using plane mouthmirrors and exploratory probe to detect root surface caries. While WHO periodontal probe was used todetect the dental plaque and gingival health. Root Caries Index (RCI) was used for detecting root caries,Plaque Index (PI) for oral hygiene and Gingival Index (GI) for gingival health. T – test was used tofind a difference between Baghdad and Mosul, while Duncan's Multiple Range Test was used to findthe difference among groups, the differences were considered significant at p≤ 0.05. Results: From thetotal sample the mean Root Caries Index (RCI) rate was (13.69) in Baghdad and (13.59) in Mosul, nosignificant difference was found between the two cities (p> 0.05). The mean Plaque Index (PI) wasmoderate for Baghdad and Mosul (1.23, 1.04) respectively, while Gingival Index (GI) mean was lowfor both cities (0.96, 0.71) respectively. Also subjects who did not brush their teeth revealed a highmean of RCI, PI and GI in both cities than those who brushed their teeth once or more than one timedaily with highly significant difference (p< 0.01). A significant decrease in the mean of RCI, PI and GIwith high level of education (p≤ 0.05) was found. Conclusions: Root surface caries is regarded to behigh in both cities population and deserve attention concerning their actual role in the epidemiology ofprinciple oral disease of the adult population.
