BLOOD LEAD AND ORAL HEALTH STATUS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN DUHOK, KURDISTAN REGION, IRAQ

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground and objective: It has long been believed that air, water and place have a directbearing on human health. In recent years there has been growing interest in understanding theexact role played by lead on oral health status. The wide inconsistencies about the subject andthe paucity of local studies in this context mandated the conduct of this study. The objectivewas to investigate the relationship of blood lead with oral health status.Methods: A cross sectional designs enrolling eight secondary schools in Duhok city has beenadapted from 15th April to 15th June 2013. The sample comprised 280 (188 males and 92females) apparently healthy students aged 18-23yrs. A questionnaire was used to obtaininformation on age, gender, drug history, acute and chronic illness. This was followed byclinical dental examination to assess two standard oral health indices, namely, Decayed,Missing, Filled Surfaces (DMFS) and gingival index (GI) for each student.Results: The mean blood lead was (4.4 ± 1.8 μg/dl), the value was higher in males than infemales (p < 0.001).The mean DMFS was higher in females than in males (12.08 ± 5.52 vs.10.37 ± 5.84 P <0.05), respectively while the mean GI was higher in males than in females(0.94 ± 0.77 vs. 0.49 ± 0.58 p < 0.001), respectively. Blood lead was positively correlatedwith both DMFS and GI, the correlation was stronger with GI scores (r = 0.832,p<0.001)than with DMFS scores(r = 0.543, p < 0.001),Conclusions: Different levels of blood lead relate variably to oral health status. Blood Leadcorrelates positively with both DMFS and GI scores.