eng Oriental Scientific Publishing Company Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal 0974-6242 2015-12-28 8 2 1225 1236 10.13005/bpj/880 6214 article Leila Golpasand Hagh 1 Amin Rahami 1 Mohammad Hussein Haghighi Zadeh 2 School of Dentistry, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of medical sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. School of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. The prevention of tooth loss is the ultimate goal of dental care. Identification of reasons for tooth loss should help in the establishment of adequate preventive programs. The present study aims to investigate the reasons for extraction of permanent teeth and the demographic factors (age, gender, occupational status, educational status) associated with tooth loss. This study investigates the reasons for extraction of permanent teeth in 834 patients referred to department of dental faculty of Ahvaz university of medical sciences and 6 other center (two personal dental clinics, one government dental clinic, and three dental offices) in Ahvaz during February and March 2010. The study methodology has been descriptive-analytical and the data have been collected by questionnaire and clinical examination of patients. Data have been analyzed by Chi-square test and in SPSS software. A total of 1500 extracted teeth from 834 patients showed that caries (52.6%) and periodontal disease (23.4%) have been among the main causes of tooth extraction, followed by prosthetic reasons (10.2%), patient request (10%), failure of endodontic treatment (1%), trauma (0.9%), impaction (0.7%), orthodontic reasons (0.7%) and other reasons (0.4%). The most extracted tooth has been first molar of the lower jaw (396 extractions). Extraction due to caries has been commonly observed in all age groups under fifty years old, whereas periodontal disease has been predominant in the groups over fifty years old. No statistically significant difference was found between two genders in their mentioned causes for extraction, with periodontal disease and patient request being the main reasons for teeth extraction. The frequency of the extracted teeth has been inversely related with improvement of educational status of the patients. In addition, it has been observed that significant different pattern of tooth loss was seen when patients were classified according to the occupational status (67.2% employed, 32.8% unemployed). Permanent teeth have been mostly extracted due to caries and periodontal disease. Prevention and care for dental caries and periodontal disease are required for all age groups, and over middle age groups, respectively. In addition, for the purpose of oral health preservation and improvement of quality of everyday life, patients should be better informed and advised to maintain an adequate oral hygiene and pay regular visits to the dentist. https://biomedpharmajournal.org/vol8no2/evaluation-of-reasons-for-extraction-of-permanent-teeth-in-ahvaz-2010/ Caries Periodontal disease Tooth Extraction Ahvaz