Prevalence of periodontal diseases among patients who attended the University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences Polyclinic-Dental Clinic in the year 2017

Aims: Periodontal diseases are highly prevalent and can affect up to 90% of the worldwide population. Gingivitis is reported to be the most abundant in the adult population all over the world. However, periodontitis also affects approximately 10 to 15% in adult populations of the world. Methods: This study was conducted at University of Rwanda-College of Medicine and Health Sciences Polyclinic-Dental Clinic. A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out. Patients’ records of new cases who attended the University of Rwanda-College of Medicine and Health Sciences Polyclinic-Dental Clinic in 2017 were recruited in this study; data were coded and entered into IBM SPSS Version 21. Chi square test was used to check for associations. The significance level was put at a P-value ≤0.05% with 95% Confidence Interval. Results:The prevalence of periodontal diseases among the participants who attended the University of Rwanda-College of Medicine and Health Sciences Polyclinic-Dental Clinic was found to be 41.6%. There was an increase inperiodontal disease with age alongwith significant association between periodontal diseases and gender. However, there was no significant association between periodontal diseases with geographical locations. Conclusion: The prevalence of periodontal diseases among the patients who attended the University of Rwanda-College of Medicine and Health Sciences Polyclinic was high. There was a correlation in the prevalence of periodontal diseases in East Africa and worldwide. We recommend that the government, through dental associations, should organize and conduct community outreaches to different areas that are not accessing dental services and provide oral health education and other preventive care.