Oral health perception and plight of patients of schizophrenia

Oral health primary preventive interventions for individuals with serious mental illness in low- and middle-income nations: Scoping review

Mental health disorders constitute a major global disease burden, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Due to issues related to access, hygiene, economic pressures, and communication, the oral health of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) receives little attention. This scoping review comprehensively maps and synthesises the existing literature on oral health primary preventive interventions (OHPPIs) in LMICs, highlighting key strategies and challenges encountered in addressing oral health disparities in resource-constrained settings. We systematically searched Cochrane Library, Ovid (MEDLINE), PsycINFO and Embase. The search strategy included keywords and MeSH terms related to oral health, SMI interventions, and LMICs. We included all types of OHPPI, (preventive, promotive, behavioural, and educational approaches) implemented in LMICs. We identified three studies focused on OHPPI for SMI patients that met our inclusion criteria. The interventions included were: (I) educational interventions; (II) behavioural interventions combining motivational and educational elements, and (III) self-assessment interventions combining educational and physical elements. Multifaceted barriers and challenges to effective oral health interventions were identified covering limited access to dental services, and socio-economic disparities. This scoping review underscores the need to develop and test context-specific strategies, capacity building, and policy support to improve oral health outcomes in LMICs.

[Diagnostic Prevalence of Dental Findings in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults with Mental Disorders Compared to Healthy People - an Analysis and Estimation Based on Claims Data from 2019]

AIM

To analyse oral health-related diagnostic prevalences in children, adolescents (KiJu), young adults with mental/behavioural disorders (PEVS) and those of the general population in Germany based on claims data.

METHOD

Anonymously provided ZI (Zentralinstitut)-data sets of GKV-insured persons (0-44 years) were i. e. stratified according to gender, age groups, ICD-K00-K14 diagnosis.

RESULT

No reliable oral or dental health-related information was generated from the requested data set. Regardless of the F diagnosis, according to the data set, 1.8% of all 11,854,384 KiJu-GKV-insured persons and 0.2% of 18-44-year-olds (23,348,399 GKV-insured persons) had a diagnosis related to the dental hard tissue (ICD-10 K02/K03.2). Based on available literature on the prevalence of caries in KiJu with PEVS, a mean unweighted prevalence of 51% can be assumed. According to the available literature on the prevalence of caries in KiJu with PEVS a mean unweighted prevalence of 51% can be calculated. Following this and the diagnosis prevalence of PEVS in 0- to 17-year-olds from 2017, an estimated 957.952 children with PEVS should also have a caries.

CONCLUSION

The nationwide data on the prevalence of oral health-related diagnoses made by physicians in the general population and in people of the same age with PEVS are very low. Apparently, dental diagnoses are only given very rarely by general practitioners and paediatricians, among others. The existing literature as well as the clinical experience of the authors indicate that this claim data is not suitable to realistically represent the dental and oral health of the examined group of people. Thus, for networking, the improvement of health care research and the care, e. g. of subgroups of the society, is an interprofessional dental/medical, data protection-compliant central database to be driven forward.

Special Care Patients and Caries Prevalence in Permanent Dentition: A Systematic Review

Due to the increase in the population with special needs and the significant difficulty in their dental management, it is essential to analyze the caries prevalence in this group of patients. The systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA statement. A search was performed on 9 May 2022 and updated on 5 June 2022, in three databases: Pubmed, Scielo, and Cochrane library. Studies involving the analysis of caries in permanent teeth in patients with special needs were included. A total of 1277 studies were analyzed and 21 studies were selected. Quality assessments were performed using an adapted version of the STROBE guidelines. Among the analyzed groups (intellectual disabilities, human immunodeficiency virus infection, schizophrenia, down syndrome, drug addicts, adult heart transplant, kidney disease, diabetic, autism, psychiatric patients, cerebral palsy, and hemophilia), the highest prevalence of caries was observed in patients with intellectual disability, without differences between genders. However, there is a need for more studies with standardized methods for caries diagnosis to further investigate the prevalence of caries in permanent teeth in patients with special needs.