Dental Management of patient with Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disorder. This disease affects about 1 in 1000 people in the general population and 1% of the over 60 age group. The main features of the disease are: resting tremor, bradykinesia, postural instability, muscle rigidity and inexpressible face (mask-like face). People with PD face a series of pathological manifestations from the oromaxillofacial region related to the disease, while some of the drugs used to treat PD also lead to adverse effects from the oral cavity. Purpose: The dentist should be able to recognize the basic signs and symptoms of the disease, its basic oral manifestations and the basic dental management protocols of patients with PD. This review aims to contribute in this direction. Method: In pubmed database we searched with keywords “dental and Parkinson’s disease”, “Parkinson disease and dental management”, ‘Parkinson and periodontal’, “oral hygiene and Parkinson disease’, “periodontitis and Parkinson’s disease”. We concluded that 141 papers were to be used in our review. We also used Little’s and Scully’s books on the medically compromised patient, as well as Dougall’s series of articles for disabled patients. Last, we used few website links of official dental sites. Conclusion: PD patients may suffer from a multitude of pathological manifestations from the oral-maxillofacial area, while they need special dental management due to motor, mental and autonomic neural system disorders. The insufficient experience and training of the majority of dentists in treating patients with PD is given. The dental community in collaboration with the medical community and the State is important to contribute to the improvement of the oral health of PD patients, by educating patients and dentists.