Dental profile of a community of recovering drug addicts: biomedical aspects. Retrospective cohort study

Objectives: to obtain a biomedical oral profile of a community of adult drug addicts in treatment by analysing their dental health, with a view to determining whether the state of their oral health could be attributed primarily to their lifestyle and the direct consequences of drug abuse on their overall condition, rather than to the effects of the drugs used. Experimental Design: the study was conducted under the terms of an agreement between the Complutense University of Madrid's (UCM) Odontology Faculty and the City of Madrid's Substance Abuse Institute. Seventy drug addicts and 34 control group subjects were examined. The study assessed oral hygiene habits, systemic pathology, type of drugs used and the duration of use, oral pathology, oral health indices, risk of caries based on saliva tests, oral candidiasis and periodontal microbiology. Results: statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were found between the test and control groups for practically all the variables analysed. In the drug users group, dental hygiene was wanting, systemic and oral pathology prevailed and the decayed/missing/filled teeth or surface (DMFT/S) indices denoted very poor buccodental health. The saliva tests showed a substantial risk of caries and candidiasis rates were high. By contrast, with a single exception, the microbiological studies detected no statistically significant difference between drug users and control groups periodontal flora. Conclusions: drug-dependent patients had poor oral health and a significant increase in oral pathology, essentially caries and periodontal disease. Their risk of caries was high and the presence of candidiasis was representative of their poor general and oral health. Drug users' poor buccodental condition was more closely related to lifestyle than to drug abuse itself

Oral health-related quality of life in complete denture wearers depending on their socio-demographic background, prosthetic-related factors and clinical condition

Objectives: To investigate the differences in impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among complete denture wearers depending on their socio-demographic characteristics, prosthetic-related factors and oral status. Study Design: 51 patients aged 50-90 years treated, from 2005 to 2010, with at least one complete denture at the Department of Buccofacial Prostheses of the Complutense University (Madrid) were enrolled in this cross- sectional study. All of the participants answered the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14sp) questionnaire. The additive scoring method was used. The prevalence of impacts was calculated by using the occasional threshold (OHIP-14sp score > o =2). Socio-demographic and prosthetic-related variables were gathered. Patients underwent clinical examination to assess their oral condition. Descriptive probes and Chi-Square tests were run (p < o =0.05). Results: The predominant participants' profile was that of a man with a mean age of 69 years wearing complete dentures in both the maxilla and the mandible. The prevalence of impact was 23.5%, showing an aver - age score of 19±9.8. The most affected domains were "functional limitation" and "physical pain", followed by "physical disability". Minor impacts were recorded for the psychological and social subscales ("psychological discomfort", "psychological disability", "social disability" and "handicap"). The prosthesis' location significantly influenced the overall patient satisfaction, the lower dentures being the less comfortable. Having a complete re - movable denture as antagonist significantly hampered the patient satisfaction. Patients without prosthetic stomatitis and those who need repairing or changing their prostheses, recorded significantly higher OHIP-14sp total scores. Conclusions: The use of conventional complete dentures brings negative impacts in the OHRQoL of elderly patients, mainly in case of lower prostheses that required reparation or substitution, with a removable total denture as antago - nist. The prosthetic stomatitis in this study was always associated to other severe illness, which may have influenced the self-perceived discomfort with the prostheses, as those patients were daily medicated with painkillers

Diseñando el futuro de la docencia de grado en la facultad de odontología de la UCM

Fac. de OdontologíaFALSEsubmitte