Condition of the tongue, periodontal and immune statuses in men with alcohol dependence syndrome

Abstract

Relevance. Oral health problems, particularly periodontal diseases, are frequent complications in people with alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS). The assessment of the periodontal, immune status and the tongue condition in ADS patients by the set of indices is promising. Materials and methods. The periodontal and immune status and the tongue condition were examined in 114 men, of whom 47 were patients with stage II ADS and 67 were subjects without a history of ADS. Pearson's chi-squared test, Mann–Whitney U test, logistic regression, factor analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results. ADS patients have significantly worse oral hygiene (p < 0.001) and 35.5 times higher probability of moderate to severe gum inflammation (p < 0.001). Sextants with bleeding (39.0%) and calculus (25.9%) prevailed among ADS patients whereas most of sextants were healthy (85.8%) in the comparison group. Significant inter-group differences were found for all CPI codes except code 4 (p < 0.001). The dorsal surface tongue coating (63.8%) and minor hyperkeratosis (27.7%) prevailed among ADS patients, while in the comparison group, there were no changes in 34.3% of subjects and coating was present in 38.8% (p = 0.003). The risk of satisfactory to poor oral hygiene was 3.7 times (p = 0.007) higher and the risk of moderate to severe gum inflammation was predicted to be 6.5 times (p = 0.015) higher if the examined subjects had changes in the tongue mucosa. The obtained differences in the level of IgG, TNF-α and cortisol prevailed in ADS patients (p < 0.001). Conclusion. In ADS patients, the severity of periodontal diseases, changes in the tongue mucosa and mucosal immunity imbalance are statistically significant. The considered dental markers of chronic alcohol intoxication are proposed to be used at the treatment and checkup dental visits to screen individuals at risk of alcohol use disorder.