Prevalence of Oral and Dental Diseases and Oral Hygiene Practices among Illicit Drug Abusers

Abstract

Background: There has been increasing incidence of addiction to certain illicit drugs amongst people belonging to various strata of society, particularly among young people in Bangladesh, as well as in western countries. Drug abuse results in several direct consequences including multiple physical and mental problems such as cardiac crisis, respiratory depression, liver cirrhosis, nephropathy, infectious diseases such as hepatitis, AIDS, and tuberculosis, injury-associated disability, mental disorders such as depression, and oral health problems. Illicit drugs abusers’ health related published data available worldwide but considering the geographical disparity, such as types of drugs, pattern of use, and duration of use, environment and physiology (race) and so on, no study has been performed in Bangladesh. The present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of oro-dental diseases and explore attitudes towards oral hygiene practices among a group of illicit drug abusers so that required interventions can be planned for the good health of those who are in addicts with illicit drugs in this region.

Materials and methods: This study was comprised of 120 drug addicts admitted in a drug rehabilitation centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data obtained were subjected to analysis using SPSS version 20.0. Percentage and mean ± standard deviation was calculated and Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis.

Result: Most of the participants were involved in more than one drug abuse and the most abused drugs were heroin (55.1%), cannabis (ganja) (43.2%) and methamphetamine (yaba) (30.5%). Oral hygiene practices of the drug users were alarming where 76.7% of the participants reported brushing their teeth on an incorrect schedule (Before breakfast/after every meal) and incorrect frequency of time of brushing while only 22.6% of the participant brushed in correct schedule of brushing (After breakfast and before sleep at night). Ignorance about oral health (48%), money fear (32%) and money-bad experience (25%) are the obstacles for the respondents to visiting a dentist among them. More than two-thirds of drug users were affected by dental caries, with a mean DMFT score of 5.0 (sd 2.29), bleeding, shallow pockets and deep pockets were found as the highest CPI finding in 68%, 57% and 12% of drug users respectively. Oral mucosal examination revealed gingivitis, xerostomia (dry mouth syndrome) and meth mouth (bruxism, excessive tooth wear, xerostomia, and rampant caries) were 35.8%, 18.3% and 8.3% respectively. Significant relationship was found in case duration of drugs abused with oral health condition.

Conclusion: Drug abuse is detrimental to oral health, so abusers need to be more aware of the dangerous effects of drugs.