Evaluation of The Prevalence of Furcation Involvement in Adult Patients with Etiological and Demographic Factors

Introduction: Molar teeth are the most frequently affected and most frequently lost teeth as a result of periodontal attachment and bone loss due to periodontal diseases. It is important to determine the prevalence of involvement and clinical factors affecting Furcation Involvement (FI), since FI resulting from periodontal diseases adversely affects the prognosis of molar teeth. From this point of view, the aim of our study is to determine the frequency of FI in the molar teeth region; to evaluate together with clinical, etiological and demographic factors. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 300 patients and 1931 teeth meeting the inclusion criteria. According to the Glickmann classification, class 0-I teeth were considered healthy, class II-III-IV teeth were considered to have FI and lost teeth were recorded. Results: When all molars were evaluated, FI was observed in 18.12% and 19.54% of the teeth were lost. More FI was observed in maxillary molars (21.58%) than in mandibular molars (14.66%). First molars (22.66%) showed a higher prevalence of involvement than second molars (13.58). When the first and second molars in the maxilla and mandible were compared in terms of furcation defect, the highest FI was observed in the maxillary 1st molar with 28.5%, while the lowest FI was observed in the mandibular second molars with 12.5%. Conclusion: It was found that advancing age and smoking increase the risk of furcation involvement. In addition, more FI was found in male patients than in females and in individuals with low education level compared to individuals with higher education levels. It was observed that higher gingival index and plaque index values were associated with FI. More attachment loss and pocket depth were measured in teeth with FI. Higher furcation involvement was found in teeth with proximal restoration or endodontically treated compared to healthy teeth. Higher values were found in terms of both furcation involvement and tooth loss in patients with poor oral hygiene habits.