Background: This study was conducted to assess the dental treatment requirements of psychiatric patients in comparison with the non psychiatric patients admitted in the hospital. Methods: A total of 103 hospitalised psychiatric patients were examined with an equal number of non psychiatric hospitalized patients. Result: 73.22 % of psychiatric patients exhibited higher caries index along with higher decayed missing filled teeth (DMFT) as compared to 68.31% in the control group. The incidence of periodontal diseases were significantly higher among the study group than the controls. There were statistically significant correlation between smoking, family pattern, calculus index and gingival index amongst psychiatric patients. Conclusion: There was a higher incidence of caries index, missing teeth and less filled teeth among psychiatric patients, indicating extensive dental treatment requirement for this group. MJAFI 2007; 63 : 328-330

Osmotic demyelination syndrome due to rapid correction of hyponatremia may present with myelinolysis at pontine and/or extrapontine locations. Of late, the role of hypokalemia in increasing the risk for demyelination is being recognised. A 57-year-old man underwent surgery for cervical myelopathy. Postoperatively, he developed hyponatremia and hypokalemia and went on to develop seizures followed by ?locked in state?. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after 8 days revealed extensive extrapontine myelinolysis. The patient recovered well over 8 weeks. Sequential development of MRI lesions and their resolution has been discussed.