CAUSES FOR EXTRACTION OF PERMANENT TEETH IN GENERAL DENTAL PRACTICES IN YEMEN

Abstract

The aim of this survey was to investigate the primary causes for extraction of permanent teeth, its correlations with age and gender, as well as identify the important predictors for dental caries in Sana'a University dental clinics in Sana'a city, Yemen. The study was conducted over a period of one year; its population consisted of 1,420 patients, aged 9–72 years, who underwent tooth extraction. There were 761(53.6%) male and 659 (46.4%) female patients. The frequency distribution was calculated using the t-test, ANOVA and t test for differences in mean number of extracted teeth and the logistic regression model to evaluate the variables associated with causes for tooth extraction. A total of 2,585 teeth were extracted from the 1,420 patients. The highest rate (23.1%) of extraction occurred for those 41–50 years old. Males comprised 53.6% of patients but had more teeth (1598, 61.8%) extracted than females (987, 38.2%).The rate of teeth extracted on the day of the survey per patient was 1.82±0.07 (2.1±0.1 in males and 1.5±0.05 in females). Tooth loss due to caries was 69%; periodontal disease was 28%; pre-prosthetic reasons were 1.9% and other reasons were 1.14%. There was a significant association between patient characteristics (age and gender) and number of teeth extracted in which the Mean±SD of extracted numbers were increase with increasing age and higher in male patients than in females (p<0.001). The most frequently extracted teeth were mandibular first and second molars (446, 17.3%), followed by maxillary premolars (415, 16.1%), while mandibular canines were least frequently extracted (87, 3.4%). In conclusion; dental caries and periodontal problems were the main causes for tooth extraction in Sana'a city, Yemen.