Clinical, Microbiological, Behavioral Aspects Of Oral Health Among Stroke Patients

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to review clinical, microbiological, and immunological aspects of oral health, as well as oral health related behaviors among patients following stroke. Method: A structured search strategy was applied to three electronic databases to identify effective papers. Outcomes regarding tooth condition, periodontal condition, oral hygiene status, and dental attendance were extracted. Comprehensive Mete Analysis 2.0 software was used to pool those outcomes which were suitable for meta-analysis. Narrative summaries of key findings were provided for those outcomes which were not amenable to be synthesized.

Result: The initial search yielded 19927 papers, 60 potentially effective studies (Kappa: 0.974) and 23 effective papers (Kappa: 0.965) in accordance with the inclusion criteria. The standardized differences in mean values of the parameters (fixed effect, random effect model) for patients with stroke compared to control groups were: number of remaining teeth (-0.325, -0.271), DMFT index (0.246, 0.246), plaque index (0.305, 0.356), gingival index (0.716, 0.653), periodontal health status- clinical attachment loss (0.437, 0.490) and probing depth (0.470, 0.579). In addition, a lower chance of dental attendance was observed among patients with stroke (odds ratio: 0.493, 0.480). Qualitative assessments were inconclusive.

Conclusion: There is an increasing interest in oral health of patients with stroke. Patients with stroke had a poorer clinical oral health status across a range of parameters (tooth loss, dental caries experience, and periodontal status). Coupled with this, their dental attendance was less frequent. Further studies employing standardized assessments of oral health/oral health behaviors are needed to confirm these oral health disparities. This abstract is based on research that was funded entirely or partially by an outside source: This study was supported by General Research Fund, Hong Kong (Project number 774012)