Research Article
Changes in Periodontal Health Status among Naval Personnel during Prolonged Sailing
Zheng Zhao*, Li Wei, Lujia Li, Yong Ye, Zhengnan Huang and Haiqing Yang
Department of Stomatology, The 401 Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Qingdao, 266071, China
- *Corresponding Author:
- Zheng Zhao
Department of Stomatology
The 401 Hospital of Chinese PLA
22 Min-jiang Road, Qingdao
Shandong, P. R. China
Tel: 86 0532 51870540
E-mail: zhaozheng170@163.com
Received Date: July 12, 2014; Accepted Date: July 28, 2014; Published Date: August 04, 2014
Citation: Zhao Z, Wei L, Li L, Ye Y, Huang Z, et al. (2014) Changes in Periodontal Health Status among Naval Personnel during Prolonged Sailing. J Oral Hyg Health 2:153. doi: 10.4172/2332-0702.1000153
Copyright: © 2014 Zhao Z, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in periodontal status among some naval personnel of Chinese PLA during Gulf of Aden convoy and analyze possible causes.
Methods: The changes in oral hygiene index-simplified (OHI-S), gingival index (GI), plaque index (PLI), bleeding on probing (BOP), probing pocket depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), community periodontal index (CPI), tooth mobility (TM), and number of missing teeth (NMT) excluding third molars, and the prevalence of periodontal disease between post-sailing and pre-sailing were measured and analyzed among 186 naval personnel who participated in prolonged sailing.
Results: Each periodontal index on post-sailing was significantly higher than that of pre-sailing and there was significant difference between them. Before sailing, total prevalence of periodontal disease was 59.7%. After sailing, normal percentage decreased to 16.7% (P<0.01), total prevalence increased to 83.3%, the percentage of gingivitis and mild periodontitis increased to 38.7%, 27.4% respectively (P<0.05), and the percentage of moderate and severe periodontitis increased to 10.8%, 6.5% respectively (P<0.01). Significant differences were found in all indices between post-sailing and pre-sailing.
Conclusions: Our research indicates that prolonged sailing environment, food constraint and poor oral hygiene could notably influence periodontal status of naval personnel. It is essential for periodontal health of naval personnel during prolonged sailing to promote education on oral hygiene, develop the habit of correct tooth brushing and have balanced and rational diet, and perform proper periodontal non-surgical treatment and medication.
