RESUMEN
The aim of this study was to assess the level of awareness of patients about dental diseases and their prevention. The subjects included 100 patients attending Periodontology Department, Margalla College of Dentistry, Rawalpindi. This study used a predesigned questionnaire to evaluate the effects of gender, age and level of education of patients on their awareness and understanding of the risk factors for Periodontal Diseases. The results showed that more than 83% of the participating patients were able to correctly identify the most important cause of gum diseases out of which 30 percent of patients showed a correlation between smoking and the severity of periodontal pathology, 19 percent correlated with diabetes, 19% with abnormal environmental factors while 17% knew the way of their prevention. Majority of the patients [63%] showed no knowledge of prevention. Age and level of education of patients had least effect on the level of awareness except for the knowledge of brushing which increased with increasing level of education