Tooth wear among patients suffering from mental disorders

AIM: Assess oral health, treatment needs and the correlation between tooth wear and medications in patients with psychiatric disease. METHODOLOGY: 92 patients (40 male and 52 female) admitted in the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry of the Umberto I Hospital of Rome underwent an oral and dental clinical examination in accordance according to World Health Organization Basic Methods Criteria. One dentist performed all clinical examinations, training and calibration was carried out by an experienced clinical examiner. To measure the degree of inter-examiner agreement Kappa statistics was calculated. Level of tooth wear was assessed using the tooth wear classification of Johansson et al. Exact psychiatric pathology and medications of each patient were registrated. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill.) was used to analyze the data. A value of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: 34.78% of the sample regarding tooth wear demonstrated score 2. Men demonstrated 30% score 2, and 20% score 3 and 4 whereas female patients 38.46% score 2, 7.69% score 3 and none score 4. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic exposure to neuroleptic drugs can cause phenomena of bruxism. There is a direct correlation between tooth wear, psychiatric disorders and administration of certain drugs. Poor oral hygiene and extensive unmet needs for dental treatment were widespread among psychiatric patients.