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People with severe mental illnesses are three times more likely to lose their teeth because of poor oral health.
This information comes from the September issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. The researchers propose people with mental illnesses should get free dental care. The reason is that while the overall oral health of people has gotten better for most people based on dental improvements, the same can’t be said for the patients with mental illnesses.
There were 14 studies that explored this subject.
Based on research developed from studying almost 3,000 psychiatric patients, they were 3.4 times more likely to lose all of their teeth. They were also 6.2 times more likely to have teeth with some form of decay or filling.
The reason for these dental problems is exactly what you may think. People with psychiatric problems are not worried about or are not capable of maintaining good oral health. Essentially, all the problems that contribute to a person’s mental problems prohibit the person from taking care of the oral health properly.
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