The most common presenting complaints of patients attending dental OPD
Abstract
Objective: To determine the ratio of common presenting complaints among patients presenting
at dental OPD, to evaluate the commonest dental issues in our population.
Methods: Analytical cross-section study was done at dental OPD of Bibi Assefa Dental College
larkana during a period of 4 months from May 2022 to October 2022. Patients aged 18 years old
or above, who presented at dental OPD of either gender were included. The information was
gathered using a standardized questionnaire and a clinical examination. The questionnaire asked
about the patient's age, gender, and socioeconomic level, as well as his or her principal
complaint. Clinical examination was carried out by trained dental practitioners to determine the
presenting complaints of the patient. All the relevant data was documented via SPSS version 26.
Results: The average age of the patients was 39.34 years, and the most prevalent symptoms were
toothache (42%) and gum disease (31%). Dental caries afflicted 16% of patients, whereas a
lower proportion experienced tooth sensitivity (5%), jaw pain or TMJ concerns were found, with
toothache and gum disease being the most common dental issues among both men and women,
without significant difference (p > 0.05). According to age, 18-30 years cases were more likely
to have toothache and gum disease, while older patients had slightly more dental caries and TMJ
difficulties and the findings were statistically insignificant (p->0.05).
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Copyright (c) 2024 Sana Javed, Naveed Memon, Waheed Murad Dahri, Uzma Bashir, Syeda Sadia Hassan, Noorulane Mughal
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