Oral health status in selected risk groups of patients treated under general anaesthesia

Objectives: The study aim was to determine the level of oral health state in persons with handicap, first of all in those with the diagnosis of mental retardation and epilepsy. Materials and Methods: Group of consecutive patients with handicap (N=225), who had been sent for dental care to the Clinic of Stomatology, Masaryk University in Brno, was examined by one experienced dentist and patients were treated later under general anaesthesia. The subjects for this study were selected according to diagnosis of a specialist. DMFT (WHO 1997 criteria) and RI (%) indices were used to evaluate the oral health state of the risk patients. Of this number, 104 persons had the diagnosis of mental retardation and epilepsy and these were divided into four subgroups. The first two groups included patients only with diagnosed mental retardation (N=35) or epilepsy (N=6), further then mental retardation and other diseases (N=33), epilepsy and other diseases (N=30), the last group was formed by combinations of more different diagnoses (N=121). The age of patients at risk ranged between 18.6 -61.3 years. The study was approved by the ethical committee of Masaryk University. Results: Patients with mental retardation had the following scores: DMFT was 16.66 and value of RI was 34.37. Patients with mental retardation and combinations of more different diagnoses had DMFT 17.48 and value of RI=32.36. DMFT score in patients with epilepsy was 21.33 and RI value was 50.95. Patients with epilepsy and combinations with other diseases had DMFT=19.03 and RI=38.18; similarly to group of more different diagnoses (DMFT=20.77 and RI=37.43). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated relatively high DMFT scores and RI values in patients with handicap (mental retardation, epilepsy). The results suggest the necessity to improve dental care in these patients. Keywords: oral health data, risk group, patient with handicap, DMFT, RI, mental retardation, epilepsy