Oral Health Status in Hill Tribe of Northern Thailand

Traditional lifestyle may play an important role on oral health status of the hill tribes. There are two main ethnic groups of hill tribe minorities, Akha and Lahu, living in Doitung development project, Chiangrai Province, Northern of Thailand. Hill tribe living in this area has a socioeconomic status above the average of other hill tribe in Thailand.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare oral health status between Akha and Lahu.

Methods: The 362 Akhas in 16 villages and 132 Lahus in 5 villages were randomly selected. The calibrated dental students performed the examination in an outdoor setting, under natural light, using CPI probes and mirrors, following WHO recommendations.

Results: The children aged 0-5 year had caries free 34.3% in Akha and 25.0% in Lahu. The mean dental caries was 3.61 teeth (3.94) in Akha and 3.85 teeth (3.25) in Lahu. The mean DMFT in 12-17 year-old children were 2.00 (1.75) in Akha and 3.17 (3.97) in Lahu. Caries experience in Akha was lower than Lahu in all age groups but this different was not reach statistically significant. On the other hand, the periodontal diseases in 35-44 year-old adults were statistically different between Akha and Lahu (p<0.05). CPI average score in Akha was 2.22 (0.63) sextants compared with 2.54 (0.71) sextants in Lahu. The percentage of periodontal pocket, CPI score 3 and 4, was 26.4 and 42.3 in Akha and Lahu, respectively.

Conclusions: This result indicated that the periodontal disease of Akha and Lahu living in Doitung development project might be influenced by their tradition lifestyle of oral health care. The high dental caries in both ethnic groups might be affected by the socioeconomic status.