Oral lesions and disorders and their prevalence arising from the use of illicit drugs in a prison population.

BACKGROUND

The dependence on the illicit drugs has been proven to be harmful to the oral cavity and may lead to a series of abnormal manifestations. The main objective of this study was to observe the effects caused by the consumption of illicit drugs in the oral cavity, in a prison population in the North of Portugal.

METHODS

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted involving 91 male inmates aged 25-75 years (mean age 41.14 ± 8.98), from Paços de Ferreira Prison. The participants were subjected to a medical interview and a clinical examination. Descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test were used to assess the association between the qualitative variables. The level of statistical significance used was α ≤ 0.05.

RESULTS

The consumption of illicit drugs proved to be a common practice (86.8%), where cannabis, heroin and cocaine were the most prevalent (29.1%). Thirty-one inmates were attending the methadone rehabilitation program (34.1%). Most of patients consuming illicit substances, were also smokers (93.7%) (p<.001). Of the 91 participants, 82 (90.1%) presented oral manifestations, with caries lesions being the most prevalent (61.0%) and oral mucosa lesions the least observed (3.7%). Heavy drug consumption was related with rampant caries lesion (p=.011) and chewing difficulty (p=.024) when compared with cannabis consumption.

CONCLUSION

The main oral manifestations found, associated to the consumption of illicit drugs were caries lesions, tooth loss and sensitivity, periodontal diseases, temporomandibular disorders, xerostomia, and bruxism.