Review Article

Year : 2018 | Volume : 6 | Issue : 2 | Page : 21-26

Spinal Cord Injury and Oral Health Status: A Systematic Review

Ravi Karthikayan, Aparna Sukumaran, Kiran Iyer, Madan Kumar Parangimalai Diwakar

Department of Public Health Dentistry, Ragas Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Address for correspondence:

Dr. Ravi Karthikayan,

Department of Public Health Dentistry, Ragas Dental College, Uthandi, Chennai ‐ 600 119, Tamil Nadu, India.

E‐mail: karthiravibds@gmail.com

Abstract

Aim:

To assess the oral health status in patients with various levels of spinal cord injury.

Data Sources:

Relevant studies were included from the period of January 2007 to October 2017 via MEDLINE, EMBASE and GOOGLE SCHOLAR, TRIP DATABASE. The search identified no randomized control trials for the proposed research question. The first set of terms included ‘oral health status of spinal cord injury patient. The second set included the term ‘oral health’, ‘dental health’ separated by Boolean operator “OR” ‘and the third set included the term ‘spinal cord injury patient, ‘upper limb paralysed patients ‘separated by Boolean operator “OR.

Conclusion:

Based on inclusion criteria 5 articles were included. The methodological quality of the selected articles were assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) 1998. The study results implied that the oral health among SCI patients was fair which is due to poor oral hygiene practices, greater levels of plaque, gingival bleeding and increase levels of caries experience. Oral hygiene instructions should be given in these patients and the caregivers should be trained adequately to maintain the oral hygiene of these physically compromised patients.

Keywords: Hemiplegia, oral health status, quadriplegia, spinal cord injury

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

How to cite this article:

Karthikayan R, Sukumaran A, Iyer K, Diwakar MP. Spinal cord injury and oral health status: A systematic review. Int J Community Dent 2018;6:21-6