Oral health status and dental treatment needs among Non-Institutionalized psyciatric patients

ABSTRACT

To describe the oral health status among non-institutionalized patients with chronic psychiatric illnesses receiving long-term anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medications and to compare the oral health satus whith a matched group without such history. Forty psychiatric outpatients were selected as astudy group based on having chronic psychotic illness and on neuroleptic medications for at least two years. The control group consisted of 40 healthy dental patients who were selected to match the study group by age and gender, and for both groups 20 teeth excluding the third molars should be present. Demographic characteristics, smoking and brushing habits in addition to dental examination including decayed, missed filled teeth, plaque index and periodntal treatment needs according to the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs were recorded for each patient in both groups. Psychiatric diagnosis for the study group revealed that 57% were having schizophrenia and 43% mood disorders, the mean duration of illness was 11 years. The mean age was 34.8 years for the study group and 34.6 years for the control group with a male female ratio of 11 in both groups. Dry mouth was the chief complaint among 40% of the psychiatric patients while dental pain was the main complaint among 60% of the control group. The mean indices for the study vs. control groups were as follows, [9.07 vs 8.65] for the decayed-missed-filled-teeth, [1.96 vs. 1.55] for the plaque index and [2.3 vs. 1.97] for the periodontal treatment needs. Filled teeth and plaque index score-0 were significantly greater in the control group, while plaque index score-3 and periodontal treatment need sore-1 were significantly greater in the study group. About 47.5% of the psychiatric patients were smokers compared to 30% of the control group. Regarding brushing habits, 50% of the psychiatric patients never brushed their teeth while 60% of the control groups brush their teeth once or twice daily. Oral health status of chronic psychiatric outpatiens seems to be worse than that of the mentally healthy population. Mental health professionals should pay more attention to dental care and oral health needs of the psychiatric outpatients