A sampling survey of gingival bleeding and dental calculus in Guangdong Province (2015-2016)

To investigate the current status of gingival bleeding and dental calculus in the 12- to 74-year old population in Guangdong Province with the aim of providing information to support oral health care.

A stratified, multistage, random sampling design was used to obtain 7 provincially representative sample groups consisting of 8,544 Guangdong residents aged 12, 13, 14, 15, 35-44, 55-64 and 65-74 years old with a 50/50 gender ratio. The status of gingival bleeding and dental calculus in the whole mouth was assessed according to the Guidelines of the Fourth National Oral Health Survey using a CPI probe. The resulting data were analyzed using the SAS9.2 package.

The prevalence of gingival bleeding in residents aged 12, 13, 14, 15, 35-44, 55-64 and 65-74 years old was 43.75%, 42.76%, 49.06%, 39.38%, 81.94%, 90.97%, and 84.03%, respectively, while the average number of teeth with gingival bleeding per person was 1.95, 2.07, 2.59, 2.39, 9.62, 10.36, and 9.98, respectively. In the 12-, 13-, 14-, and 15-year-old groups, peak prevalence was observed at age 14 (P < 0.05). In the 35-74-year-old group, the prevalence and mean number of teeth with gingival bleeding per person increased with age, and both parameters reached a peak in the 55-64-year-old group. The prevalence of dental calculus in the 12-, 13-, 14-, 15-, 35-44-, 55-64- and 65-74-year-old group was 40.57%, 41.09%, 45.05%, 54.84%, 98.96%, 97.22%, and 92.01%, respectively, and on average, each person had 1.61, 1.71, 2.14, 3.52, 20.30, 20.55, and 17.26 teeth, respectively, with dental calculus. The prevalence and mean number of teeth with dental calculus increased with age. In the 35- to 74- year-old group, the prevalence of dental calculus was higher in urban areas than in rural areas and the mean number of teeth with dental calculus was higher in males than in females. Otherwise, there were no significant differences in the prevalence or the mean number of teeth with dental calculus or gingival bleeding between urban and rural areas or between males and females.

There is a high prevalence of both gingival bleeding and dental calculus in all 7 age groups in Guangdong, indicating that poor oral hygiene and gingival inflammation are common in Guangdong Province.