Comparison of oral health between inpatients with schizophrenia and disabled people or the general population.

Background/purpose: There is little comparative research evidence to support the claim that there is disparity in dental care between inpatients with schizophrenia and the disabled people or the general population. This study aimed to investigate whether schizophrenia inpatients had poorer dental care and worse oral health than the disabled people and the general population, respectively.

Methods: An oral health survey was conducted in a specific-psychiatric long-term care institution in Taiwan in 2006. The results of this survey were compared with the findings of oral health investigations of the disabled people or the general population in Taiwan using proportion test and t-test.

Results: This study used decayed, missing, and filled teeth index (DMFT) to describe the condition of dental caries. Compared with the disabled people, schizophrenia inpatients aged 19 to 44 years had a lower subjects' filling rate of DMFT index (FI) and a higher caries experience, but schizophrenia inpatients aged 45 or more had a lower mean number of DMFT. Compared with the general population, schizophrenia inpatients had higher caries experience, mean number of DMFT, percentage edentulous, and community periodontal index and lower FI and number of remaining tooth among various gender or age groups.

Conclusion: In Taiwan, inpatients with schizophrenia have a lower FI than the disabled people and a worse overall oral health status than the general population.