A BSTRACT Background: Data on the periodontal health status of elderly in Rivers State are uncommon, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and describe the determinants of periodontal disease among the elderly in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Subjects and methods: The study was an observational research design in which data on periodontal health status was collected by a clinical oral examination. Subjects were selected by systematic random sampling and data collected using a self-developed questionnaire. Data analysis was done using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 20 IBM, Armonk, New York). Relationship between variables was established using Chi-square and signifcance determined at 0.05 alpha level. Results: The prevalence of gingivitis and periodontitis was 327 (60.2%) and 190 (35.0%), respectively. More than half 293 (53.9%) of the subjects had calculus on their teeth, and 137 (25.2%) had Shallow pocket. Gingivitis and periodontitis were signifcantly higher in males than females and the old elderly compared to the young elderly. Cigarette smokers had less gingivitis and more periodontitis than nonsmokers and those who engaged in once daily tooth cleaning had a higher prevalence of gingivitis and periodontitis compared to subjects who cleaned their teeth twice or more daily. Conclusion: The burden of periodontal disease was high among the elderly and the periodontal health status was poor with a high prevalence of gingivitis and periodontitis. Therefore, oral health education, enlightenment, and motivation towards the seeking of oral care are recommended in this group. Keywords: Elderly, Gingivitis, Oral health education, Periodontitis. Journal of Oral Health and Community Dentistry (2019): 10.5005/jp-journals-10062-0038 Gingivitis and Periodontitis among the Elderly in Port Harcourt Nigeria: A Population-based Study Omoigberai B Braimoh 1 , Grace O Alade 2 ORIGINAL ARTICLE 1 Senior Lecturer, 2 Lecturer 1,2 Department of Preventive Dentistry, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria Corresponding Author: Omoigberai B Braimoh, Senior Lecturer, Department of Preventive Dentistry, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, e-mail: omoigberai.braimoh@uniport. edu.ng How to cite this article: Braimoh OB, Alade GO. Gingivitis and Periodontitis among the Elderly in Port Harcourt Nigeria: A Population-based Study . J Oral Health Comm Dent 2019;13(1):5-9. Source of support: Nil Confict of interest: None studies are uncommon in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. A search of the literature revealed that the only available data on the prevalence of the periodontal disease in Rivers State is a hospital- based retrospective analysis of hospital record of patients. 12 Results obtained from such study may not refect the true situation at the community or population level. Consequently, community-based study on the prevalence and determinants of the periodontal disease become imperative. The present study determined the prevalence of gingivitis and periodontitis by recording gingival bleeding on probing, presence of calculus and periodontal pockets. It also investigated the possible infuence of factors such as age, gender, educational status, tooth cleaning frequency and smoking on the occurrence of periodontal disease. The study population was made of pensioners in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Pensioners are considered as elderly made up of persons 60 years and older 16 with varied educational, socio-economic, cultural and psychological experiences. 17 Worldwide, the number © The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and non-commercial reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. I NTRODUCTION T he periodontium consists of the supporting tissues of the teeth, this includes the gingival, cementum, periodontal ligament and the alveolar bone. Periodontal diseases are a group of diseases which afects one or more of these tissues, and it is broadly categorized into gingivitis and periodontitis. Gingivitis is a reversible form of periodontal disease, the infammation is restricted to the gingiva without destruction of the other supporting tissues, on the other hand, periodontitis is the irreversible destruction of the deeper structures of the periodontium, caused by specifc microorganisms or groups of specifc microorganisms, characterized by destruction and loss of connective tissue attachment and alveolar bone, periodontal pocket formation, loosening of teeth and subsequent tooth loss. 1,2 The burden of periodontal disease in the African population is quite high, and the occurrence is related to age, oral hygiene status, and socioeconomic status. 3-5 In fact, it constitutes a major public oral health problem and is considered a socio-economic disease in Africa. 3 Among Nigerians, the prevalence is also high and it is the second most common cause of tooth loss. 6-8 In a study among the adult male population in Benin City, Nigeria, the prevalence of periodontal diseases was 90.8%, of this 75.4% had gingivitis and 15.4% had periodontitis. 9 In another study conducted among prisoners in Benin city, the prevalence of periodontal disease was 95% with gingivitis and periodontitis accounting for 64.2% and 30.7% of the prevalence, respectively. 10 A cross-sectional survey among pensioners also in Benin city reported the prevalence of gingivitis and periodontitis as 52% and 45.6%, respectively. 11 Retrospective analysis of hospital records of patients attending the dental clinic in a university teaching hospital in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the prevalence of periodontal disease was 19%. 12 Although there are number of studies assessing the periodontal health status of Nigerians available in the literature, 11,13-15 such