Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Arab World consists of 22 countries from North and North-east Africa and the Middle East. Periodontal disease is an important global oral health burden, and is highly prevalent in developing countries. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this narrative review is to report on the recorded prevalence of periodontitis in the Arab World, and to examine the methods used in collecting the data. DATA AND SOURCES: A search of the literature was performed using the PubMed database up to September 2011 to identify articles that reported on the prevalence of periodontal disease in the 22 Arab countries. Reports kept in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Data bank were also used in this review. CONCLUSION: There is a paucity of up-to-date data regarding the prevalence of periodontitis in the Arab adult population. Most relevant data are at least 10 years old. From the literature available, it is clear that there is a need for epidemiological data that are representative of the adult population from this region. Such data will enable proper development of guidelines, allocation of resources and the development of appropriate public health programmes.