Prevalência e autoconhecimento para doença periodontal em militares

Abstract

Introduction. Periodontal disease (PD) is one of the two most important diseases that affect the oral cavity, affects the human population worldwide, representing a public health problem. Objective. To identify the prevalence and self-knowledge, for periodontal disease in military men and women. Check if there is a difference between the female gender. Material and methods. The military were recruited in a joint effort to carry out a general dental census for the entire population of the Centro de Instrução Almirante Wandenkolk (CIAW) an institution of the Brazilian Navy, totaling a population of 409 military personnel. All fill out an informed consent form and an applied one, being evaluated by the responsible researcher to verify the presence or absence of periodontal disease, in addition to information on: age, gender, time in the military, oral hygiene habits, frequency of visits to the dentist, and knowledge about periodontal disease. Two groups were formed for further analysis: Group 1- containing exclusively women and Group 2- containing exclusively men. The collected data were compiled, and later the analysis of the collected variables was carried out in the IBM SPSS version 18.0 software. Results. Of the population of 409 military participants, 164 (40.1%) were female and 245 (59.9%) were male; with regard to age, there was a statistically significant difference between the ages of men and women (CI 95%; p < 0.0001); 356 (87%) used dental floss, of these 229 (56%) used it daily; 315 (77%) had brushing frequency of 3x a day or more; 304 (74.3%) reported that they regularly visit the dentist, and the proportion of women who regularly visit the dentist significantly exceeded the proportion of men who did so (CI 95%; p < 0.001); 265 (64.8%) stated that their last visit to the dentist for control or treatment was within 06 months; only 47 (11.5%) participants thought they had the disease against 362 (88.5%) who said they did not; 252 (61.6%) said they knew about periodontal disease; according to the professional evaluation, the presence of periodontal disease was verified in 185 (45.2%) participants, of which 37% were female and 63% were male, with no statistical difference between genders being observed (95% CI; p = 0.2248); finally, when comparing the lack of perception of PD and the actual absence of PD by sex, we found a statistical difference between men and women who think they do not have PD and those who, according to professional assessment, really do not have PD (CI 95%; p < 0.0001). Conclusions. The prevalence found was 45.2% of periodontal disease. The military's self-knowledge about periodontal disease was low, only 19%. There was statistical difference between the knowledge of women and men. Most participants were within the frequency for a return visit to the dentist.