Oral and Dental Findings in Patients with End Stage Renal Disease Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis in Sulaimani City

Abstract

Background: Patients with improper kidney’s functions requiring maintenance hemodialysis (HD) exhibit an increased prevalence of oral lesions. Since growing numbers of patients with chronic renal failure have been documented worldwide, the dental team has a significant role in providing oral care for patients with such disease. The objectives of this study were to analyze the prevalence of oral lesions in hemodialysed patients compared to healthy individuals and to find a possible link between different subjective symptoms and objective clinical findings. Patients and methods: An observational, case-control, cross-sectional study was carried out in 109 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance HD in comparison to 154 healthy controls in different health centers of Sulaimani city, Kurdistan region of Iraq. Various oral findings were documented by acknowledged dentist who implements well-known clinical diagnosis criteria for ESRD-associated oral manifestations. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical software program to find the association between varibles; a p-value < 0.05 were considered as significant. Results: The most common prevalent oral manifestations in haemodialysis group of patients were dry mouth (76.1%), coated tongue (73.4%), uremic fetor (66.1%), unpleasant taste (64.2%) and pale oral mucosa (60.6%); while linea alba was the most prevalent finding in healthy group. There was a significant relation with high Odds Ratio between dry mouth with uremic fetor, unpleasant taste, and oral mucosal pain. Conclusions: Results of the present study indicated that a variety of oral manifestations is shown in patients with ESRD on maintenance hemodialysis in comparison to healthy individuals. Early detection of these findings is of great importance, as it would allow the dentist to implement therapeutic and preventive measure for patients awaiting a renal transplant.