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Review
. 2016 May;61(5):277-82.
doi: 10.1177/0706743716632523. Epub 2016 Feb 10.

No Mental Health without Oral Health

Steve Kisely  1
Affiliations
Review

No Mental Health without Oral Health

Steve Kisely. Can J Psychiatry. 2016 May.

Abstract
in English, French

The poor physical health faced by people with mental illness has been the subject of growing attention, but there has been less focus on the issue of oral health even though it is an important part of physical health. This article discusses the two-way association between oral and mental health. In one direction, the prospect of dental treatment can lead to anxiety and phobia. In the other, many psychiatric disorders, such as severe mental illness, affective disorders, and eating disorders, are associated with dental disease: These include erosion, caries, and periodontitis. Left untreated, dental diseases can lead to teeth loss such that people with severe mental illness have 2.7 times the likelihood of losing all their teeth, compared with the general population. Possible interventions include oral health assessments using standard checklists that can be completed by nondental personnel, help with oral hygiene, management of iatrogenic dry mouth, and early dental referral.

La mauvaise santé physique qui afflige les personnes souffrant de maladie mentale a fait l’objet d’une attention croissante mais la question de la santé buccodentaire n’a pas retenu autant l’attention, même si c’est une part importante de la santé physique. Cet article de « Perspectives » discute de l’association bilatérale entre la santé buccodentaire et la santé mentale. D’un côté, la perspective d’un traitement dentaire peut entraîner l’anxiété et la phobie. De l’autre, bien des troubles psychiatriques, comme une maladie mentale grave, les troubles alimentaires et affectifs sont associés à la maladie dentaire, notamment l’érosion, les caries et les périodonties. Non traitées, les maladies dentaires peuvent mener à la perte des dents de sorte que les personnes souffrant de maladie mentale grave sont 2,7 fois plus susceptibles de perdre toutes leurs dents. Les interventions possibles sont entre autres les évaluations de la santé buccodentaire à l’aide des listes de contrôle standards qui peuvent se faire par du personnel autre que dentaire, l’aide à l’hygiène buccale, la prise en charge de la bouche sèche iatrogène, et une référence dentaire précoce.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa; bulimia; caries; dental disease; dental erosion; depression; eating disorders; oral health; periodontal disease; severe mental illness.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Human dentition and tooth structure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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