Oral health in Jordan.

This paper reviews the overall picture for oral hygiene, gingival/periodontal disease, dental caries and oral lesions/conditions in Jordanian subjects and its relationship to socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the trends of certain conditions are described. Only approximately one-third of children brushed their teeth regularly, so the amount of plaque was high and gingivitis was pronounced irrespective of socioeconomic status. Public school children had higher overall scores for decayed, missing, or filled teeth and surfaces than the children in the private schools. In general, boys had higher plaque and gingival scores than girls. The occurrences of shallow and deep pockets in these children were low (0.3-5.3%). Although an improvement in oral hygiene, gingival conditions and dental caries has been reported recently in children, the prevalence of these conditions is still high compared to that found in the developed countries. More than one half of the adults brushed their teeth regularly and high proportions of subjects with shallow and deep pockets were found in the 50-60-year-old age group with about 19% and 11% respectively. Fordyce's granules and tori were the most common lesions among the thirty different oral lesions or conditions diagnosed. It may be concluded that motivation and proper oral hygiene should be emphasised. Secondly, implementation of school-based oral health promotion and prevention programmes is urgently needed.