Prevalence, Extension and Severity of the Gingival Recession in an Adult Population Sample of Sulaimani city– Iraq

Objectives: to determine the prevalence, severity and extension of gingival recession in an adult population in Sulaimani city – Iraq. Materials and Methods: 627 subjects, males and females were examined at Shorsh teaching hospital - dental center in Sulaimani city to determine the prevalence, severity and extension of gingival recession. The sample was divided into four age groups, group 1 (20 to 29 years) 232 patients, group 2 (30 to 39 years) 223 patients, group 3 (40 to 49 years) 128 patients and group 4 (above 50 years) 44 patients. A calibrated periodontal probe marked up to 15 mm was employed for measuring the amount of gingival recession from cementoenamel junction to the gingival margin on four surfaces of each tooth - mesial, buccal, distal and lingual. Miller’s classification was used to evaluate the severity of the recession. Results: In this study a total of 249 subjects out of 627 recorded gingival recession. Whereas, 1453 teeth out of 6776 adding up to 2340 sites displayed (≥1 mm) gingival recession. Furthermore, the majority of older age group (≥ 50 years) sample revealed gingival recession (93.2%). Statistically gingival recession among male subjects were non-significantly higher than female subjects 46% against 34.5% respectively, whereas females recorded higher number of teeth and sites affected by gingival recession than males (823 teeth against 630 teeth and 1277 sites against 1063 sites). According to Miller’s classification, class one recession was most prevalent (55%) followed by class III (38.2%). According to age, Class I recessions decreased as age increased, however, Class III and Class IV recessions showed an increasing status as age increased. According to tooth type, mandibular central and lateral incisors showed the highest percentages of gingival recession (23.6% and 19.4%) respectively. Conclusion: Prevalence of the gingival recession was high among the population examined in this study with a predilection for males. Gingival recession was more prevalent in higher age groups. Furthermore, mandibular central and lateral incisors were the most frequent teeth revealing recession among the total dentition.