Periodontal treatment needs, by CPITN, among employees of a Jerusalem hospital

A survey, employing the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN), was conducted among 344 employees of a Jerusalem hospital. Of the population surveyed, 2.2 per cent demonstrated totally healthy mouths, 1.5 per cent had, at the worst, bleeding symptoms, 13.3 per cent had calculus, 53.4 per cent had 4-5 mm ('shallow' according to WHO) pockets and 29.6 per cent had deep pockets (6 mm or more) as their worst CPITN scores. Results revealed an average of 0.55 edentulous sextants, 0.68 healthy sextants, 0.87 sextants with bleeding symptoms, 1.36 with calculus, 1.95 with 4-5 mm pockets and 0.61 sextants with deep pockets. In general, females were healthier than males, had a significantly greater number of healthy sextants, less sextants with calculus and less sextants with deep pockets. A deterioration in periodontal health with age was evident, according to mean number of sextants per person by CPITN scores. Associations were also analysed between CPITN and demographic variables. Few significant associations were revealed. Based on FDI and WHO estimates, the calculated periodontal treatment needs for the hospital employees was found to be about 2 hours per person. Compared with data for other countries, as reported by the WHO, this status demands serious efforts to be made towards periodontal health promotion.