Evaluation of symptoms and sings of oral soft tissue disorders among inpatients with schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction. Patients with schizophrenia are likely to constitute a high-risk group of individuals with respect to prevalence of oral diseases and they require special attention. Factors like nature of psychiatric disorders, length of stay and oral-side effects of psychotropic medications have been noted as contributors to poor oral health among institutionalized chronic psychiatric patients. Methods. This cross-sectional study comprised 190 inpatients with schizophrenia at the Dr Laza Lazarevic Clinic for Mental Disorders in Belgrade, and 190 mentally healthy patients at the Clinic for Periodontology and Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade. A questionnaire was designed for the purpose of this research with the aim of recording information on demographic data (age and sex), unhealthy habits (tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and drug abuse), and data about the existence of any oral symptom and/or sings related to oral soft tissue pathology. All participants were subjected to targeted clinical examinations. Results. All study group patients were receiving psychotropic medications (mean number 4.18 ± 1.14; from 1 to 7 medications). The study group patients had a total of 272 symptoms and 121 signs of oral disorders; which was almost four times higher for symptoms and even nine times higher for signs of oral disorders than in the control group. Conclusion. Schizophrenia as a mental disorder does not directly affect the condition of oral health of this group of psychiatric patients, but indirectly – reducing their motivation and awareness of the importance of oral health, which is particularly emphasized in hospital conditions.

Keywords

• oral symptoms
• oral signs
• schizophrenia
• hospitalization