Introduction:

Microbial dental plaque causing inflammation of tooth supporting structures is known as periodontal disease. It is influenced by smoking, poor oral hygiene, systemic diseases, psychological factors like depression, and other factors (Fatima et al., 2016).  The purpose of this present research was to assess the link between mental depression with periodontal disease using clinical parameters and a depression rating scale.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 172 subjects (matched for age and sex) were enrolled. For evaluation of periodontal disease, oral hygiene index(OHI), probing pocket depth (PPD), gingival index(GI), and clinical attachment level (CAL) were recorded(Fatima et al., 2016). The “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision criteria” were used to determine whether or not any of the subjects had depression, and the severity of depression was measured by PHQ-9 scale.

Results: Subjects with depression had significantly fair oral hygiene with healthy periodontium, mild calculus and bleeding on probing was observed in few patients.

Conclusion: This study came to the conclusion that mental depression has no effect on the periodontium and is not a risk factor for periodontal disease.

Key words: Depression, Probing Pocket Depth (PPD),Clinical Attachment Loss (CAL),Oral hygiene index (OHI),Gingival Index(GI)