Reasons for Tooth Extraction in Urban and Rural Populations of Saudi Arabia

An epidemiological survey was carried out to ascertain the reasons and the factors that contribute to dental extractions in a rural and an urban population of Saudi Arabia. A total of 820 individuals (400 in an urban area and 420 in a rural area) aged between 20 and 80 years were included in the study. Eight dentists in the region obtained personal and demographic data and clinical details from these randomly selected subjects enrolled for the study. A total of 2800 extractions were accounted in this study from those subjects. The results showed that caries and its sequelae were responsible for more tooth loss in younger age groups in urban and rural population while extraction consequent to periodontal problem increased with age. As far as the type of tooth extracted, the most frequently extracted were mandibular posterior teeth in rural areas (40.57%) and maxillary posterior teeth in urban areas (56.0%) followed by maxillary anteriors (11.43%) and mandibular anteriors in rural areas (10.0%) respectively, which was statistically significant. Extractions from periodontal problems were more common among those with only primary education while a high frequency of extraction for orthodontic purposes was noticed in urban females with primary education. However extractions from caries followed a uniform pattern in all groups with minimum number of individuals with secondary and tertiary level of education. The observations of the study indicate that caries is the most frequent reason for tooth extraction in young population both in rural and urban populations. Extraction due to periodontal reasons predominated in the age group above 40 years.