AU - Bhardwaj, Vinay AU - Sharma, K AU - Jhingta, P AU - Luthra, R AU - Sharma, D TI - Assessment of oral health status and treatment needs of police personnel in Shimla city, Himachal Pradesh: A cross-sectional study PT - ORIG DP - 2012 Jan 1 TA - International Journal of Health & Allied Sciences PG - 20-24 VI - 1 IP - 1 4099- https://www.ijhas.in/article.asp?issn=2278-344X;year=2012;volume=1;issue=1;spage=20;epage=24;aulast=Bhardwaj;type=0 4100- https://www.ijhas.in/article.asp?issn=2278-344X;year=2012;volume=1;issue=1;spage=20;epage=24;aulast=Bhardwaj AB - Objectives: To assess the oral health status and treatment needs of police personnel in Shimla city and to suggest measures to improve the present oral health status. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted on 371 subjects, aged 18-58 years who were selected by simple random sampling. Type-III examination of the subjects was conducted by a single investigator and data was recorded on modified W. H .O. format 1997. A value of P ≤ 0.05 and ≤ 0.001 was considered statistically significant and highly significant, respectively. Results: DMFT (decayed, missing, filled teeth) was significantly higher among older age group, males and constables. Subjects brushing once daily had higher DMFT 3.16 (S.D. = 3.29) than those brushing twice daily 2.8 (S.D. = 2.79) ( P < 0.05). CPI score-2 was highest among majority of subjects. Female employees were healthy in all their sextants to be examined in both arches than male employees (8.3% vs. 2.8%). Subjects brushing twice daily had significantly healthy periodontium than those brushing once daily. The percentage of healthy periodontium was higher in non-smokers (6.33%) than in smokers (1.31%). The difference was highly significant for score-3 and 4 ( P < 0.001). Prosthetic status and prosthetic needs was higher in mandible than maxilla and this difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: Most of the police personnel suffer from dental caries, periodontal diseases and edentulousness. Awareness should be created to maintain good oral hygiene, regular dental check up and abstain from smoking and alcohol among police personnel.