Abstract
People with a diagnosis of serious mental illness (SMI) have a greater incidence of poorer oral health as compared to the general population. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effect that a combination of the use of a battery-operated toothbrush and a related educational intervention may have on the oral health of individuals with serious mental illness. Key findings include that the battery-operated toothbrush resulted in a significant improvement in the mean change in gingival index, a common indicator of oral health. The study also found that oral home care instructions, smoking and level of negative symptoms did not have an effect on the mean change in plaque or gingival indices. This project suggests that the implementation of a relatively simple, cost effective measures such as a battery-operated toothbrush may have a positive impact on the oral health in this population.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Almomani, F., Brown, C., & Williams, K. B. (2006). The effect of an oral health promotion program for people with psychiatric disabilities. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 29(4), 274–281. https://doi.org/10.2975/29.2006.274.281.
Arnaiz, A., Zumárraga, M., Díez-Altuna, I., Uriarte, J., Moro, J., & Pérez-Ansorena, M. A. (2011). Oral health and the symptoms of schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 188(1), 24–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2010.09.012.
Beck, W. T. (2013). The importance of A priori sample size estimation in strength and conditioning research. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(8), 2323–2337. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e318278eea0.
Brondani, M. A., Alan, R., & Donnelly, L. (2017). Stigma of addiction and mental illness in healthcare: The case of patients’ experiences in dental settings. PLoS ONE, 12(5), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177388.
D'Cruz, A., & Aradhya, S. (2013). Impact of oral health education on oral hygiene knowledge, practices, plaque control and gingival health of 13- to 15-year-old school children in Bangalore city. International Journal of Dental Hygiene, 11(2), 126–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1601-5037.2012.00563.
Denis, F., Millot, I., Abello, N., Carpentier, M., Peteuil, A., & Soudry-Faure, A. (2016). Study protocol: A cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of a therapeutic educational program in oral health for persons with schizophrenia. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 10, 65. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-016-0096-0.
Dollfus, S., Mach, C., & Morello, R. (2015). Self-evaluation of negative symptoms: A novel tool to assess negative symptoms. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 42(3), 571–578. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbv161.
Đorđević, V., Dejanović, S., Janković, L., & Todorović, L. (2016). Schizophrenia and oral health—review of the literature. Balkan Journal of Dental Medicine, 20(1), 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1515/bjdm-2016-0002.
Edward, K., Felstead, B., & Mahoney, A. (2012). Hospitalized mental health patients and oral health. Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing, 19(5), 419–425. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01794.
Giglio, J., & Laskin, D. (2010). Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in a group of adult patients seeking general dental care. Quintessence International, 41(5), 433–437.
Jain, Y. (2013). A comparison of the efficacy of powered and manual toothbrushes in controlling plaque and gingivitis: A clinical study. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dentistry, 5, 3–9. https://doi.org/10.2147/CCIDE.S40656.
Janardhanan, T., Cohen, C., Kim, S., & Rizvi, B. (2011). Dental care and associated factors among older adults with schizophrenia. Journal of the American Dental Association, 142(1), 57–65.
Khokhar, W. A., Clifton, A., Hannaj, J., & Graeme, T. (2011). Oral health advice for people with serious mental illness. The Cochrane Library. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008802.pub2.
Mander, C., & Mainwaring, P. (1980). Assessment of the validity of two plaque indices. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 8(3), 139–141. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0528.1980.tb01275.x.
McCracken, G., Preshaw, P., Steen, I., Swan, M., DeJager, M., & Heasman, P. (2006). Measuring plaque in clinical trials: Index or weight? Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 33(3), 172–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-051X.2006.00877.x.
McGurk, S., Twamley, E., Sitzer, D., McHugo, G., & Mueser, K. (2007). A meta-analysis of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 12(164), 1791–1802
Medalia, A., & Choi, J. (2009). Cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. Neuropsychology Review, 19(3), 353–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-009-9097-y.
Nenava, D. (2015). Indices in dental epidemiology. [PowerPoint slides]. https://www.slideshare.net/darpannenava/dental-indices Accessed 09 February 2016
Pompili, M., Montebovi, F., Forte, A., Palermo, M., Stefani, H., Telesforo, L., et al. (2012). Support management in schizophrenia: A systematic review of current literature. Patient Intelligence. https://doi.org/10.2147/PI.S18809.
Quigley-Hein plaque index. (n.d.). In Oxford Reference. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100358973Accessed 09 February 2016
Robinson, P., Deacon, S., Deery, C., Heanue, M., Walmsley, A., Worthington, H., et al. (2005). Manual versus powered toothbrushing for oral health. Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002281.pub2.
Siu-Paredes, F., Rude, N., Rat, C., Reynaud, M., Hamad, M., Moussa-Badran, S., et al. (2018). The schizophrenia coping oral health profile: Development and feasibility. Translational Neuroscience, 9(1), 78–87. https://doi.org/10.1515/tnsci-2018-0014.
Wykes, T., Reeder, C., Landau, S., Everitt, B., Knapp, M., Patel, A., et al. (2007). Cognitive remediation therapy in schizophrenia. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 190(5), 421–427. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.106.026575.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singhal, V., Heuer, A.J., York, J. et al. The Effects of Oral Health Instruction, and the Use of a Battery-Operated Toothbrush on Oral Health of Persons with Serious Mental Illness: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Community Ment Health J 57, 357–364 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00657-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00657-w