[Periodontal treatment need in the Dutch adult population]

In 1986 a nationwide dental survey was carried out in The Netherlands. One of the objectives of the study was to assess the periodontal treatment need in the Dutch adult population. A stratified sample of 3526 people aged 15 to 74 years, participated in the study. Based on the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) it can be stated that more than 90% of the adult population of 25 years and over needs oral hygiene education and scaling in one of more sextants (TN2). Complex treatment, scaling and oral hygiene education (TN3) is needed in 19 to 28% of the population aged 45 year and over. The estimated time for performing the necessary periodontal treatments, based on four different time assessments, varied from 12.4 to 31.1 million hours.