Abstract

Introduction:   Periodontal disease is one of the world’s most common diseases and its of utmost importance for Public Health because it’s related to many health disorders. The objective is to study the prevalence of periodontal disease in Costa Rica.

Materials and Methods:   This is a cross sectional study with stratified sampling, n = 105 075 (95%) and the information is collected from care centers of the CCSS. “Index of periodontal treatment needs of the Community” (CPITN), developed by WHOM. Data obtained were analyzed by the Statistical Package SPSS, Epi Info 3.5.6. and SigEpi.

Results:   The prevalence and behavior of periodontal disease was determined during the cycle of life. We show what Health Areas have less hygienic condition, mayor periodontal disease and mayor null sextant (tooth loss).

Conclusions:   Health Areas that have lower hygienic condition are observed, where Health Promotion and Disease Prevention strategies should be implemented. The relation between the hygienic condition with respect to the age is evidenced, as age increases the periodontal health is lost. The age range of 0-12 should be designed Strategies for Health Promotion and from the range of 13-19 is critical to work with prevention programs it is when the condition hygienic decreases considerably, periodontal disease increases and null sextant begins to manifest clinically.

Key words: Periodontal disease; higienic condition; geoprocessing; cicle of life