Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of this study was to assess the dental status (DMFT) in patients with schizophrenia compared with a control group.MaterialIn this case–control study, 50 patients with schizophrenia attended in the Psychiatric Unit at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital of Seville were compared with 50 people (without systemic diseases and not taking psychotropic drugs) in a control group attended in the School of Dentistry of Seville. Decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) were assessed according to the World Health Organization WHO criteria.ResultsPatients with schizophrenia showed a decayed teeth (DT) score of 7.26 ± 5.69 compared with 6.50 ± 4.37 for patients the control group. These differences were significant and suggest that dental caries are most prevalent in patients with schizophrenia. People who smoked showed significantly higher DT scores in both groups. Among patients with schizophrenia, smokers scored 9.34 ± 5.42 compared with 4.38 ± 4.82 for non-smokers. Among the healthy controls, smokers scored 6.88 ± 4.85 compared with 6.12 ± 3.85 for non-smokers (p < 0.05). Patients with schizophrenia showed a missing teeth (MT) score of 9.10 ± 8.56 compared with 5.38 ± 5.14 in control patients. MT scores increased significantly with age and with smoking in both groups of patients (p < 0.05). Patients with schizophrenia showed a filled teeth (FT) score of 1.38 ± 2.70 compared with 2.34 ± 3.48 in control patients. FT differences in gender and smoking habits between patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects were statistically significant (p < 0.05). This data, along with the DT scores, suggests that patients with schizophrenia have extensive untreated dental disease.ConclusionsPatients with schizophrenia constitute a high risk population for dental health. This group showed a greater prevalence of decayed and missing teeth and more extensive treatment needs.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to assess the dental status (DMFT) in patients with schizophrenia compared with a control group.Material: In this case–control study, 50 patients with schizophrenia attended in the Psychiatric Unit at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital of Seville were compared with 50 people in a control group attended in the School of Dentistry of Seville
Velasco‐Ortega et al BMC Res Notes (2017) 10:50 be considered a risk factor for poor oral health because patients with schizophrenia are likely to face a unique set of factors that lead to the development of advanced oral diseases—and to receive less oral health care [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]
Fifty-eight percent of patients were taking more than four psychotropic medications
Summary
The aim of this study was to assess the dental status (DMFT) in patients with schizophrenia compared with a control group.Material: In this case–control study, 50 patients with schizophrenia attended in the Psychiatric Unit at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital of Seville were compared with 50 people (without systemic diseases and not taking psychotropic drugs) in a control group attended in the School of Dentistry of Seville. Several studies of the oral health of psychiatric patients in different countries have showed that mental illnesses and the psychotropic medications used to treat them can increase the prevalence and the severity of dental diseases (e.g., caries) [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. Hyposalivation causes the intensification of cariogenic microflora because of the adverse changes in the oral environment and increases the rapid progression of tooth decay [6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 22] Another factor that contributes to increased incidence of dental caries in patients with schizophrenia is higher sugar intake. Snacking frequency is associated with a higher prevalence of dental caries and plaque index, and this frequency is higher in this kind of patients than in general population [6, 17, 28]
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