ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to evaluate if there was a relation between the pain levels following non-surgical periodontal treatment and gender in patients with chronic periodontitis. A total of 41 chronic periodontitis patients (21 male, 20 female) were included in the study. Subjects were asked to fill out Corah’s Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) in the first visit. Recording of periodontal clinical measurements were carried out before the initiation of non-surgical periodontal therapy. Patients were asked to mark the pain level on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) at 2, 4 and 6th hour after completion of the first appointment. There was no statistical difference in the pain levels between genders following non-surgical periodontal treatment. DAS levels were significantly higher in female patients (p=0.018) Statistically significant relation was found between the VAS and DAS scores of females (2nd hour rho=0.654, p=0.040; 4th hour rho=0.73, p=0.007), while this relation was not evident in male patients. Even if the nonsurgical periodontal treatment of chronic periodontitis patient is performed under local anesthesia, a certain level of pain is provoked when the effect of anesthesia is over and the level of pain does not differ between genders.