Frenal attachment and its association with oral hygiene status among adolescents in Dakshina Kannada population: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Frenum is a mucous membrane fold that attaches the lip and the cheek to the alveolar mucosa, gingiva, and the underlying periosteum. The frena may jeopardize the gingival health when they are attached too closely to the gingival margin, either due to interference in the plaque control or due to muscle pull. Identifying labial frenum attachment and its association with oral hygiene helps in primary prevention of gingival health. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of the various types of maxillary labial frenum attachment and its association with oral hygiene status in adolescent population. METHODOLOGY: A total of 300 adolescents between 13 and 18 years were selected randomly. They were clinically examined for maxillary frenum attachment. Placek's classification of the labial frenum attachments was used to check the origin of frenum. Oral hygiene index (simplified) was recorded and results were subjected to statistical analysis. RESULTS: Among 300 examined children 53% were males and 47% were females. The prevalence of the maxillary labial frenum was gingival type (39%) followed by mucosal (28.3%), papillary (23.7%), and papillary penetrating type (9.0%). The gingival type of frenal attachment was statistically significant among different age of children and also between different types of frenal attachment and oral hygiene status (p value < 0.001). There was no significance between frenum attachment and gender. CONCLUSION: The type of frenal attachment is strongly associated with oral hygiene status. as the age progresses the frenum tends to migrate apically. However, our study did not reveal any relationship between the gender and type of frenal attachment.