Periodontal disease and oral hygiene practices in patients with ischemic stroke

Abstract

Aims: A case-control study was conducted to examine the prevalence of periodontal disease and oral hygiene practices in ischemic stroke patients. Settings and Design: Case-control study. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted from March 2010 to March 2011. Control subjects were either the relatives of stroke patients or selected randomly from the patients reporting to the hospital for treatment. The detailed case history and stroke characteristics were collected. Oral examination was done using the WHO Oral health assessment questionnaire and oral hygiene practices were obtained from the patients. Stroke outcome was assessed using modified Rankin scale (mRS) (good [mRS ≤ 2]; poor [mRS > 2]). Results: One hundred and eight first-ever ischemic stroke patients and 108 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were included. Thirty-six (33.3%) patients showed periodontal damage, only 15 (13.9%) of controls had periodontal involvement (P = 0.001). Periodontal disease was commonly seen in stroke patients than the control subjects (odds ratio 3 [95% confidence interval: 1.6-6.1]; P = 0.0007). Stroke patients (17.4%) were more likely to use a finger or twig to clean their teeth than controls (1.9%) (P < 0.0001). Stroke patients had more number of missing teeth (4.02 ± 5.85) as compared to controls (1.81 ± 3.89) (P = 0.002). Conclusions: Periodontal disease was common in stroke patients as compared to controls. Oral hygiene-related behavior of stroke patients may have a role to play in the complex interplay of factors linking periodontal disease and edentulism to stroke.

Keywords

• Attachment loss
• oral hygiene practice
• periodontitis
• risk factor
• stroke