ABSTRACT
To evaluate the prevalence and severity of plaque-induced gingivitis among a Saudi adult population in Riyadh region. Three hundred and eighty-five eligible participants in this cross-sectional study were recruited from routine dental patients attending the oral diagnosis clinic at Al-Farabi College in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from June 2013 to December 2013. A clinical examination was performed by 2 dentists to measure the gingival and plaque indices of Loe and Silness for each participant. The prevalence of gingivitis was 100% among adult subjects aged between 18-40 years old. Moreover, the mean gingival index was 1.68 +/- 0.31, which indicates a moderate gingival inflammation. In fact, males showed more severe signs of gingival inflammation compared with females [p=0.001]. In addition, the mean plaque index was 0.875 +/- 0.49, which indicates a good plaque status of the participants. Interestingly, the age was not related either to the gingival inflammation [p=0.13], or to the amount of plaque accumulation [p=0.17]. However, males were more affected than females [p=0.005]. The results of this study show that plaque accumulation is strongly associated with high prevalence of moderate to severe gingivitis among Saudi subjects