Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (Apr 2021)
Oral Health Status of Young People Infected with HIV in High Epidemic Area of China
Abstract
Fei Chen1Yuewu Cheng2Tiansheng Xie3,41The Affiliated Hospital of Stomatology, School of Stomatology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Research of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310006, People’s Republic of China; 2Shangcai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhumadian, Henan, 463800, People’s Republic of China; 3Zhejiang Sino-German Institute of Life Science and Healthcare, School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310023, People’s Republic of China; 4State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310003, People’s Republic of China Correspondence: Tiansheng XieZhejiang Sino-German Institute of Life Science and Healthcare, School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, 318 Liuhe Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310023, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 571 86021350Email [email protected] Purpose: This study aimed to understand the oral hygiene habits and oral health status of young people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Henan province of China.Methods: Randomized stratified cluster sampling strategy was used to select young people who were receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HARRT) from 6 towns. A total of 104 participants were enrolled and divided into 2 groups, adolescence group and young adult group. By face-to-face oral interview and examination, well-trained dentists collected general information, oral hygiene habits and oral health status of the participants.Results: Fifty-eight of them were adolescence group and 46 of them were young adult group. In two groups, most of them brushed their teeth once a day (55.20%, 67.40%), and half of them basically brushed their teeth for 2 minutes (51.7%, 50.0%). Majority of participants did not use dental floss (93.1%,91.3%) and also never visited a dentist (81%,78.3%). One-third of participants had spontaneous bleeding, and about half of them had gingival bleeding when brushed their teeth. The most frequent mucosal disease was oral ulcers. Moreover, the prevalence of caries remained very high in both groups, which was 82.76% and 84.8%, respectively. Most of the participants in both groups had low education level and received less than 9 years of education (65.5%, 63%).Conclusion: The participants had poor oral hygiene habits. The economic and educationlevel may associate with the awareness of oral health and care. Keywords: oral hygiene, oral health, mouth mucosa, HIV infections, adolescent, young adult
