Objective  To examine the status and related factors of periodontal health among adult community residents in Shenzhen city and to provide references for conducting oral health promotion and intervention.

  Methods  We conducted a questionnaire survey and periodontal health examination among 3 030 residents aged 18 – 90 years recruited with multistage stratified random sampling from communities of 10 districts across Shenzhen city during March 2015. Community periodontal index was adopted in the study.

  Results  The detection rate was 48.0 % for bleeding on probing, 35.1 % for dental calculus, 8.1 % for shallow periodontal pocket, and 3.2 % for deep periodontal pocket; only 5.7 % of the participants were not detected with any periodontal health problems. The detection rate of periodontitis among the female participants was significantly lower than that among the male participants; the proportion of the participants with good gingival health status was significantly higher among the females than that among the males. The results of multivariable logistic regression analyses revealed that periodontitis was positively associated with age, gender, income, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cerebrovascular disease.

  Conclusion  The overall periodontal health status is not bad but needs to be improved further by intervention on major related factors among adult residents in Shenzhen city.