Oral health status of psychiatric patients

Many patients suffering from long-term psychiatric illness are on medicatio n for long periods. These medications frequently cause xerostomia leading t o an increased risk of caries, gingivitis, periodontitis and stomatitis. Oral hygiene is therefore of the utmost importance for these patients. Nurs es interact with patients on a daily basis, and therefore they are the psyc hiatric caregivers of choice to support these patients. The main aim of this study was to describe the oral health status of patien ts in short-term and long-term psychiatric care by means of oral assessment . A second aim was to discover whether the assessment guide used could dist inguish any differences between these two groups. A modified version of the Oral Assessment Guide (OAG) developed by filers e t al. (1988) was used. In addition, new items/categories were developed, fo rming the Oral Assessment Guide for Psychiatric Care (GAG-PC). A total of 5 7 patients in psychiatric care, short-term (n = 32) and long-term (n = 25), were assessed by the GAG-PC. Patients in long-term psychiatric care had significantly higher scores on t he total GAG-PC compared with those in short-term psychiatric care, indicat ing a worse oral health status. Statistically significant differences were also found in relation to the following GAG-PC categories: odour from the m outh, mucous membranes, gums, teeth or dentures, calculus on teeth and appe arance of teeth. Further research should be focused on the difficulties for nurses in approa ching their patients in order to perform oral care and on evaluating the ef fect of teaching and training psychiatric nurses in oral care, preferably w ith the assistance of the GAG-PC. This assessment guide may thereby also be valuable for nurses' documentatio n in estimating, planning, implementing and evaluating their psychiatric pa tients' oral care needs.