Oral Health Disparities among the Privileged and the Underprivileged Tribes of India – A Study on Periodontal Disease Prevalence.

INTRODUCTION:The tribal populations throughout India have remained socially and culturally alienated from mainstream Indian society until developmental and conservation activities in tribal areas forced interactions between them.Even though major developments with regard to tribal welfare have gradually led to appreciable improvements in the general health status of the tribes, the case of oral health remains far neglected especially among the underprivileged tribal populations.The aim of this study was to explore oral health disparities among the underprivileged Paniya and the privileged Kurichiya tribes of India from the periodontal health perspective.METHODS: A cross sectional survey was done among 600 Kurichiya and 400 Paniya tribal populations of Wayanad District, India from January 2013 to June 2013 after approval from the Institutional ethical committee.A pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect data regarding study variables.Community Periodontal Index (CPI) was used to record the periodontal status of the study population after obtaining informed consent.RESULTS: In this study periodontal disease was found to be far more prevalent among the underprivileged Paniyas than among the privileged Kurichiyas (P < 0.0001).The prevalence of severe periodontitis was found to be 42% amongst the Paniyas.This was much higher than the 27% found among the Kurichiyas, and the national average of 25%.Among the Paniyas a statistically significant relationship was observed between periodontitis and poor access to oral health care (P< 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates gross disparities in periodontal health status among the privileged and the underprivileged tribes of India and the need for active health interventions to eliminate such disparities.