Caries experience, periodontal status, and metabolic morbidity in patients with psychiatric disorders

To investigate the association of psychiatric disorders with (1) caries experience, (2) periodontal status, and (3) metabolic syndrome (MetS) components.

This 7-year cross-sectional study retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 504 individuals aged 18 to 90 years who attended the student dental clinic. Collected data included: demographics, smoking habits, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, pulse, waist circumference, full-mouth plaque score (FMPS), full-mouth bleeding score (FMBS), maximal pocket probing depth (PPD), average and maximal radiographic bone loss (RBL), the sum of the number of decayed (D), missing (M), and filled (F) teeth (DMFT score), and presence of MetS components, consequences and related conditions including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, s/p stroke, and cancer.

68 (13.5%) had psychiatric disorders with an average age of 53.42 ± 15.71 years. Psychiatric disorders were positively associated with smoking (P = .008), smoking pack-years (P = .004), DMFT score (P = .005), and negatively associated with hypertension (P = .046). Psychiatric disorders had no statistically significant associations with all periodontal indices studied and with other components of MetS. Following multivariate analysis, psychiatric disorders retained a statistically significant positive association with smoking (odds ratio [OR] and 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.24 [1.28 to 3.92]) and with DMFT (OR and 95% CI = 1.08 [1.02 to 1.14]), and a statistically significant negative association with hypertension (OR and 95% CI = 0.46 [0.25 to 0.84]).

Psychiatric disorders were positively associated with smoking and caries experience but not with periodontal status and metabolic morbidity. Communication between dental and medical professionals is needed to address the higher smoking consumption and caries morbidity in psychiatric patients. (Quintessence Int 2021;52:516-526; doi: 10.3290/j.qi.b1044091).