Schizophrenia and dental management: Review of the literature

Schizophrenia is a brain disease that manifests itself with multiple signs and symptoms involving thought, perception, emotion, and behavior. Despite the fact that these manifestations combine in various ways to create considerable diversity among patients, the cumulative effect of the illness is always severe and usually long lasting. Schizophrenia is diagnosed in the presence of certain positive and negative psychotic symptoms, as well as psychologic and cognitive deterioration. In addition to history, medical and psychiatric examinations are used to rule out other possible diagnoses. Schizophrenia is not a rare disorder, and it affects approximately 1% of the general population. Many of these individuals require several hospitalizations, and the financial cost of schizophrenia is substantial. In this article, clinical features of schizophrenia are reviewed, and the important consequences from the perspective of dental practitioners are highlighted.