Can different stages of leprosy treatment influence the profile of oral health? Oral status in leprosy.

BACKGROUND

The aim of study was to evaluate the oral health status, salivary flow and halitosis among individuals diagnosed with leprosy as compared with healthy subjects.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

A sample of 160 individuals was allocated into four groups, as follows: (G1) individuals with complete leprosy treatment; (G2) individuals diagnosed with leprosy and under multi-drug therapy; (G3) individuals diagnosed with leprosy not yet under treatment; and (G4) healthy individuals. Then individuals were submitted to periodontal clinical examination (visible plaque index, bleeding index, depth of probing and clinical attachment level); DMFT index (decayed-missing-filled teeth index); evaluation of salivary flow and halitosis using a halimeter equipment (Interscan Corp, Chatsworth, CA, USA).

RESULTS

The data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square tests. The mean DMFT was found to be higher than 6.6, which is considered very high, with no significant difference between groups (P>0.05). As for salivary flow, 76.2% of the subjects presented normal flow rates, while 10% and 13.7% showed low and very low salivary flow rates, respectively, with hyposalivation being mostly observed in Groups 1 and 2. The highest prevalence of noticeable odor was found in healthy individuals (G4), and the most prevalent periodontal diagnosis was gingivitis (63.1%) in Group 3 (individuals with leprosy not yet under multi-drug therapy) followed by periodontitis (25%) in Group 1 (individuals who had completed leprosy treatment).

CONCLUSIONS

It was observed that individuals with a history of leprosy present poor oral health similar to that of systemically healthy individuals.