Periodontal treatment needs of urban and rural populations in Edo State, Nigeria.

Objective: To determine the Periodontal Treatment Needs of urban and rural population in Edo State, Nigeria, and ascertain if there is any difference, using the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN). Method: All patients who reported at the venue selected rural and urban centres during a sixteen month period participated in the study. A questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic information of each subject after which oral examination was carried out. Result: A total of 2161 subjects (769 urban and 1392 rural), aged 10 years and above participated in this study. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of periodontal disease between urban and rural areas (P < 0.05), which spanned across all age groups and sexes. There was no significant difference in the mean number of sextant by age and sex. Only 0.9% of rural subjects had no periodontal disease, compared to 7.7% urban subjects. More of the rural subjects (94.4%) needed scaling and polishing plus oral hygiene instructions (TN2) when compared to urban subjects (74.8%). Conclusion: The study showed that, there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the Periodontal Treatment Needs (TN) between urban and the rural areas. The type of treatment most required by both urban and rural populations was scaling and polishing and oral hygiene instructions