INTRODUCTION: Periodontal disease may have its onset during childhood and adolescence and slowly progress throughout life. In undergraduate students, the most common and prevalent form the disease is gingivitis. OBJECTIVE: To assess the periodontal health status of a sample of undergraduate studentsand assess a possible association between the disease and socio-demographic variables, as well as the disease's risk factors. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The sample consisted of 306 undergraduate students volunteers aged between 19 and 35 years. The oral health indices used were the CPI and DMFT. Data processing and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS® version 18.0 for Windows. The classification of periodontal status was dichotomized in CPI<3 and CPI>3. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to evaluate the association between periodontal status and the independent variables. RESULT: The sample consisted of 51.3% female and 48.7% male, mostly with income less than 6 Brazilian minimum salaries. 14.4% of the sample was caries free. The worst periodontal status was in sextant #6 and 20.9% had shallow periodontal pockets in one sextant at least. There was an association between periodontal health status and gender, income, level of oral hygiene and flossing (p <0.05), but not between that and DMFT sample (p = 0.48). CONCLUSION: The sample showed mild periodontal disease condition, with no deep pockets. Female subjects, who earn more than 4 minimum salaries, with a good level of oral hygiene and who use dental floss had better periodontal health.
Periodontal diseases; epidemiology; students; oral hygiene; risk factors; multivariate analysis