Prevalence of Previously Untreated Apical Periodontitis in Young Adults Living in Urban and Rural Areas

The objective of the research was to investigate prevalence and intensity of dental caries, to detect previously untreated chronic periodontitis and to assess dental hygiene and oral health condition. Materials and methods. There were examined 282 people between the ages of 18 and 20, 98 of them lived in Ivano-Frankivsk and 182 people lived in 14 districts of Ivano-Frankivsk region. The spread and intensity of dental caries (DMF) [7], status of the periapical tissues (radiodiagnosis) [8], oral health status (Hygiene Index (HI) of Fedorov-Volodkina and Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) of Greene and Vermillion) [9], oral mucosa status (Loe-Silness gingival index (GI), Schiller-Pisarev test, PMA index) [10] were investigated.? The results revealed that the average demand for dental care to all patients was 65.8%.? The main indicators of the hard dental tissue among rural and urban population were compared.? It was discovered that townspeople’s teeth were less affected than villagers’ ones. The percentage of dental caries distribution was 91.5% that was very high for that age group. Intensity of dental caries was but not considerably higher among young adults from rural areas. They often suffered from previously untreated chronic periodontitis. More people needed dental debridement. The results revealed that prevalence and intensity of caries among young adults between the ages of 16-20 were sufficiently high. Every fourth person suffered from previously untreated chronic periodontitis with inadequate oral hygiene and more intense inflammatory processes in oral mucosa.