Oral health status of prison inmates — New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Background: This paper assesses the oral health status in a prison population and identifies risk factors associated with oral health. Methods: Cross-sectional stratified random sample of 789 prisoners (657 males and 132 females) from 27 correctional centres across New South Wales, stratified by sex, age and aboriginality. A face to face interview was used to collect information on health status and behavioural risk factors. A subset of participants (312 males and 22 females) received an oral examination which enabled the decayed, missing or filled permanent teeth (DMFT) score to be calculated.

An intriguing association between dental and mental pathology in addicted and control subjects: a cross-sectional survey

“…[42][43][44] Several recent papers from this clinic and elsewhere document the increased incidence of pathologies associated with ageing in SUD patients. In addition to greying of the hair, these pathologies include severe dental disease, 45,46 atherosclerotic coronary disease, 30,31 osteoporosis, 47,48 neuropsychiatric disorders 16,49 and lowered sperm count. 50,51 Direct demonstration that this is related to lower circulating stem cell counts has also been reported in this group 52 and the suggestion that this may in turn be associated with disorders of DNA repair may be implied by the fi nding of an elevated incidence of cervical malignancy amongst substance dependent females.…”

An investigation of the nature of research into dental health in prisons: a systematic review

“…Another failed to account for non-participants. 2 The potential bias arising from self-selection/ voluntary participation in research pro grammes outside of compulsory screen ing 6,7,21 and particularly with regard to monetary or other gain for participation in health surveys 1,20,23 was not addressed, with the exception of one study. 3 …”

“…Where clinical meas urements were taken, attempts were cedures, eg with reference to published standards of use 16 or guidelines, 1,2,7,21,22 though the number of teeth examined (28 vs 32) and/or the use of radiographs in the examination was not always specified. The attempt to reduce poten tial bias by standardising procedures was particularly evident for the com parator studies, 3,4,16 where assessment of the inmate population was closely related to the use of national or state studies.…”

“…Where it was not feasible to examine entire prison inmate popula tions, either a random selection process was used to select a sample, 1,2,4,11,16,19,21 or a consecutive series of inmates, con sidered to be similar in composition to the larger population, was sampled over a specific time period. 5,12,18,22 Two small studies of older inmates were popula tion-based, sampling all inmates.…”

“…The earliest studies showed that den tal research could be combined with existing dental screening programmes for new inmates, in order to provide fundamental and valuable information on the dental characteristics and serv ice utilisation needs of prison inmates. The number of studies of prevalence of oral diseases as assessed primarily by measures of decayed, missing and fi lled teeth/surfaces (DMFT/DMFS) and by self-report measures as components of general health surveys have increased greatly in recent times, expanding from the United States to Australia, 1 Europe, [2][3][4][5] China 6 and South Africa. 7 The increased volume of dental research with inmates can be viewed at least in part as a corollary of state and worldwide initiatives into oral health.…”