Prevalence and factors influencing reporting of true periodontal chief complaints: A retrospective analysis

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of true periodontal chief complaints (CC) and the factors affecting their reporting by patients with periodontal diseases (PD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross‐sectional study was based on retrospective analysis of available periodontal records. Different personal and demographic variables were obtained from these records including CC, age, gender, working status, past medical/dental history, smoking status and diagnosis. In addition, clinical parameters of plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth (PPD), and number of missing teeth. Periodontal CC were retrieved and divided either into true periodontal (bleeding, tooth mobility, and alteration in gingival color/shape) or others (emergency and esthetic‐related) CC. RESULTS: A total of 1161 records were included in the final analysis. Results showed that only 287 (24.7%) of patients reported true periodontal CC whereas the remaining 874 (75.3%) patients were not aware about symptoms of PD. Regression modeling indicated that reporting of true CC was positively associated with smoking and PPD but negatively associated with number of missing teeth and gender (male). CONCLUSIONS: Results suggested that recognition of true periodontal CC by the patients was low. Reporting of true periodontal CC was significantly associated with smoking, PPD, female and lower number of missing teeth. These results shed light on the importance of increasing public knowledge about PD which is essential to aid people in recognizing these diseases at early stages.