Periodontal Health Status of the Adult Indigenous People

Objectives: To determine the periodontal health status of adult indigenous people in Kuala Lipis, Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at 6 identified indigenous villages. A total of 118 subjects participated in this study whereby 54 (45.8 %) subjects were from Semai's tribe and 64 (54.2 %) subjects were from Bateq's tribe. The age ranged from 15 to 80 years old. The periodontal status was determined using the Community Periodontal Index (CPI) and score 3 and 4 were used as severity indicator for periodontal disease. Results: The main finding was 12 (10.2%) subjects presented with all sextants with CPI score 3 but none (0%) of the subjects presented with CPI score 4. Interestingly, 82 (69.5 %) subjects presented with at least one sextant with CPI score 3 and 31 (26.3%) subjects presented with at least one sextant with CPI score 4. Conclusion: Periodontitis is a common oral health condition among the indigenous people in Kuala Lipis. Therefore, effective oral health promotion strategies need to be implemented to improve the oral health of the group.