Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia syloh@um.edu.my siewyimloh@yahoo.com
  • 3 Department of Community Oral Health & Clinical Prevention, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 4 Permai Psychiatric Institution, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
  • 5 School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia
Aust N Z J Psychiatry, 2016 Jul;50(7):685-94.
PMID: 26560842 DOI: 10.1177/0004867415615947

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: People with chronic schizophrenia have high rates of physical ill-health such as heart disease. However, there has been less attention to the issue of poor oral health including dental caries (tooth decay) and periodontal (gum) disease, although both have consequences for quality of life and systemic physical health. We therefore measured tooth decay and gum disease in Malaysians with schizophrenia.

METHODS: We recruited long-stay inpatients with schizophrenia from June to October 2014. Four dental specialists assessed oral health using the decayed-missing-filled teeth index, the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs and the Debris Index of the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index. Results were compared with the 2010 Oral Health survey of the general Malaysian population.

RESULTS: A total of 543 patients participated (66.7% males, 33.3% females; mean age = 54.8 years [standard deviation = 16.0]) with a mean illness duration of 18.4 years (standard deviation = 17.1). The mean decayed-missing-filled teeth was 20.5 (standard deviation = 9.9), almost double that of the general population (11.7). Higher decayed-missing-filled teeth scores were associated with both older age (p 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.