A randomized, controlled study of dental care intervention in schizophrenia patients

บทคัดย่อ

Objective  To investigate the periodontal status in schizophrenia patients before and after having scaling, polishing, applying fluoride and training on teeth brushing on each individual.

Materials and methods Subjects were schizophrenia patients attending Srithanya Hospital and equally allocated to the study group and control group to receive the preventive dental care program by block randomization. Periodontal status indices i.e. bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index (PI), clinical attachment loss (CAL) and probing depth (PD) were outcome measures at baseline, 2^nd, 12^th and 24^th week study period. All indices were analyzed with descriptive statistics then compared on the mean values by using the multivariate analysis technique.  

Results The mean values of BOP, PI, CAL and PD of all subjects were 47.9, 95.5, 2.7 and 1.8 respectively at baseline. At the 24^th week, there were 35 patients remained in each group, the value of BOP and PI had significantly reduced on both groups. Scaling together with training on teeth brushing significantly resulted in the reduction of BOP and PI value more than only having training on teeth brushing alone. Neither group had significant changes in CAL and PD values.

Conclusion  In schizophrenia patients, scaling together with training on teeth brushing significantly resulted in better periodontal status than only having training on teeth brushing alone in the evaluation period of 12 weeks. However the BOP and PI were still higher than that of normal patient's values. The dentist should be aware of supporting and planning on maintaining the periodontal status in schizophrenia patients continually every 3 month period.