The prevalence of chronic periodontitis among the endangered toto tribe of India

Background: The endangered Toto tribe of North Bengal is unique in their traditional oral hygiene practices. Aims & objective: To evaluate the prevalence of chronic periodontitis in the unique genetically homogenous population and also to assess their oral hygiene status. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on the population with help of two stage approach involving both preformed set of questionaries' and also the intra-oral examination in accordance with standard guidelines. Results and Observations: The data were subjected to statistical analysis and significant association was found between loss of attachment, oral habits, OHI-S scores. CPI scores could be positively associated with OHI-S scores. Discussion and Conclusion: It was observed that despite of having predominantly fair OHI-S scores, high prevalence of deleterious oral habits and other local factors, prevalence of periodontal disease was low among the population