Dental and oral health status of an Iranian population of drug abusers: A comparative study

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of hallucinogens, opioids and methamphetamines abuse on oral and dental health of an Iranian population. Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional survey conducted in 2017, 500 drug abusers referred to addiction rehabilitation centers in Tehran Province in Tehran were selected as the study population. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate demographic data, self-reported oral health experiences during periods of substance abuse and details of substance abuse including types of substances abused, patterns and period of substance abuse. Results: After excluding 23 addicts due to incomplete data, 500 peoples participated. Of the 500 included subjects, 390 (88 %) were male and 110 (22 %) were female. As for the qualitative variables the differences were found to be significant for route of abuse (p < 0.001), smoking (p < 0.03), pain (p < 0.001) and abnormal sounds (p < 0.001) of TMJ, sensitivity of chewing muscles (p = 0.002), smoking melanosis (p < 0.05), hypertrophic lesions (p = 0.01) and bleeding on probing (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The findings reveal the poor dental and oral health status of drug addicts in Iran, especially methamphetamine abusers. Therefore, the results call for the design and implementation of oral health improvement programs for addicts in Iran.