Oral Morbidity Pattern and its Behavioural Determinants among Adults of Urban Slums of Siliguri, India

ntroduction: Understanding oral health and not merely dental health are becoming priorities as mouth often offers first sign and symptoms of many localised and systemic diseases. Like any other urban slums, Siliguri slum peoples were also prone for many illnesses and oral health was a different concern because offering areca nut with betel leaves to guests was a common practice in that particular area.

Aim: To find out oral morbidity pattern among study subjects and to ascertain few behavioural determinants of oral morbidity.

Materials and Methods: The present community based cross-sectional study was performed in slums of Siliguri city, West Bengal, India, from January 2017 to January 2019. As Siliguri is a large city with more than five lakh population and 154 slums, cluster sampling was adopted to choose samples from each cluster slum. Total 210 samples were studied derived from World Health Organisation (WHO) sample size formula and applying principles of 30 cluster sampling and data regarding socio-demographic profile, behaviour details and clinical history and examination was collected via self-structured, pretested schedule. Results were analysed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 software and was presented in frequency tables, Chi-square test was applied for testing statistical significance.

Results: Out of 210 study subjects, 154 of them (73.3%) had any form of oral morbidities, 136 study subjects (64.8%) had dental morbidities. Bleeding was commonest symptom for 96 study subjects (62.3%). A total of 59 study subjects (28.1%) had irregular brushing habit and 132 subjects (62.9%) did not wash their mouth after each major meal. A total of 94 subjects (44.8%) had the habit of any form addiction.

Conclusion: Adult slum dwellers of Siliguri reported a huge proportion of oral morbidities, majority of which was dental morbidities, irregular brushing habit, lack of mouthwash after meal and addiction were associated with oral morbidities