“Assessment Of Oral Health Status And Treatment Needs Of Police Personnel Of Haryana, India”

Objectives: To assess the oral health status and treatment needs of police personnel in police stations of three districts (Ambala, Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra) within 35 km radius around M.M.C.D.S.R. Mullana. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on all the available police personnel (652) at 22 police stations, 2 S.P. offices and a ‘Police Line’. The data were recorded on modified W.H.O format (1997). Blood pressure was recorded and varicose veins were checked.Results: The mean age of subjects was 41.02 years (SD= 12.29), 98.9 % (645) were males and 1.1 % (7) were females. Hypertension was the most common (9.97%) self reported systemic condition. 54.14% (353) subjects reported to be in need of some dental treatment and more than half of these subjects blamed ‘lack of time’ as the major reason for not being able to get that treatment done. The prevalence of dental caries was 54.3 % and the mean DMFT was 3.05. Mean number of teeth requiring filling and extraction were 0.44 and 0.67 respectively. 31.29 % subjects needed some prosthesis in maxillary while 40. 03 % subjects needed some prosthesis in mandibular arch (p<0.05) whereas a very small number of subjects possessed some dental prosthesis. Regarding highest CPI score, 23.6 % subjects had a healthy periodontium while maximum subjects (61.3 %) had a score 2. Conclusion: Prevalence of dental caries was quite low. Despite a high prosthetic need, only a small number of subjects possessed dental prosthesis. Overall periodontal status was good with a high number of subjects having completely healthy periodontium. The high level of ‘felt’ dental needs of the subjects seemed to be due to lack of time to visit a dentist. Their nature of job is such that they are subjected to physical, mental and emotional stress.