Oral hygiene practice, dental profile and dental service utilization of chronic kidney disease patients

Background: Research has shown that as high as 90% of patients with renal disease show oral symptoms. Literature supports a bidirectional relation between CKD and periodontal disease.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey among patients diagnosed with CKD who attended the renal outpatient clinic of a teaching hospital in south-south, Nigeria. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect participant’s demographics and dental profile. Oral hygiene gingival and dental status were assessed with Simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S), gingival index and DMFT. Data analysis was done with IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for windows version 21.0 and results presented as tables.

Results: One hundred and seven consenting participants were recruited for the study. Age ranged between18 and 86 years with mean age of 52.93±5.74 years. Median year of diagnosis was 4 years. Hypertension was the major cause of CKD in three-quarters of participant, two-third were in the 4th stage of disease, 95.3% used toothbrush/paste to clean their teeth, 14% brushed twice daily and 18.7% reported interdental cleaning. Only 9.3% of participants regularly visit the dentist and reasons for non-regular visit varied. Four-fifth of participants had poor oral hygiene. Mean OHI-S was 4.52 ±1.46. Four-fifth of participants reported gingival bleeding while brushing. 87.9% had gingival index of 2 and 3. A quarter had xerostomia. Mean DMFT was 0.39±0.87.

Conclusion: The oral health status of participants was poor. Oral health care should be incorporated into the management of patients with chronic kidney disease as this will help improve their quality of life.