Differences in oral health status leading to tooth mortality based on socioeconomic stratification: A cross-sectional study

Background: Oral health is always an inseparable part of general health. The inequalities in socioeconomic status (SES) are the causes of many health disparities including oral health in the world. Aim: To document the differences in oral health status leading to tooth mortality based on socioeconomic stratification. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done using stratified random sampling. Centers/facilities providing dental care were stratified into government general hospital (GGH), teaching dental hospital (TDH), and private dental clinics (PDCs). Sample size was taken as 750. Demographic data were taken from each patient; clinical examination of existing teeth was done, while decayed-missing-filled teeth (DMFT) and community periodontal indices were recorded. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 20, and Chi-square, ANOVA, and Spearman correlation tests were used for statistical analysis. Significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05. Results: Of the total study subjects, 40% (n = 300) were taken from TDH, 33.3% (n = 250) were taken GGH, and 26.7% (n = 200) were taken from PDCs. A majority (50.5%) of them belongs to the upper-lower class. Majority (n = 412) were with community periodontal index (CPI) score of 2, and most of the people (n = 175) had loss of attachment (LOA) score below 2 6–8 mm), of which a majority of them belonged to upper-lower and lower SES. Both CPI and LOA were statistically significantly related with SES ( P