Descriptive study of oral health, dental care and health behavior of inpatients undergoing physical medicine and rehabilitation

Abstract

Background: Regarding to the WHO’s World report on disability, more than 1 billion people are estimated to live with some form of disability. According to the 2011 census in Hungary their number can be around 500.000. These people are considered as a vulnerable group even from a dental point of view, since the loss of function makes regular oral hygienic routine and dentistry control more difficult. Aim: In 2015 The Department of Community Dentistry and The National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation started to operate together a dental office. We gathered comprehensive information on patient’s oral health currently undergoing rehabilitation and living with disabilities. Method: This study was approved by the Medical Research Council, Hungary. The clinical examination were done by the recommendation of WHO. A total of 608 inpatients have gone through a full dental examination including a stomato-oncological screening. We analyzed the DMF-T values. Oral hygiene routine, dental care, demographic characteristics, self-reported smoking, drinking and eating habits related median DMF-T were surveyed. Results: The patients had poor oral hygiene. The median DMF-T was 24 in age group ’55 years or older’. Their complaints about dental and oral mucosal lesions are minimal compared to their general dental condition. 28.91% of the inpatients reported toothache in the past 12 months, whose median DMF-T was 19. The last dental checkup in the case of most patients exceeds 24 months. Conclusion: All of the values are worse than the average Hungarian population. Their oral hygiene is poor since the daily oral hygiene routine and care in practice is not solved for these patients. *Correspondence to: Júlia Moldvai DMD, Department of Community Dentistry, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary; E-mail: moldvai.julia@ dent.semmelweis-univ.hu