Oral health in patients taking psychotropic medications: Results from a pharmacy-based pilot study

Abstract

Objectives: Individuals with mental illness face an increased risk of oral disease compared with those without mental illness. The goals of this study were to examine the self-reported oral health and dental access of individuals filling psychotropic medication prescriptions and to determine whether pharmacy patients would choose to speak with a pharmacist about their oral health if given the option to do so.

Design: Pharmacists across 6 community pharmacies within a local chain identified and surveyed adult patients filling prescriptions for psychotropic medications. Surveys included questions about oral health, dry mouth, and dental care utilization.

Setting: Six community pharmacy locations.

Participants: Adults (≥18 years of age) filling prescriptions for psychotropic medications.

Intervention: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported oral health, dental utilization, desire to discuss oral health with a pharmacist.

Results: Participants (N = 178) filling prescriptions were mostly (65.9%) female with a mean age of 48.2 years (SD 14.3, range 19-82 years). One in 4 (24.9%) said their mouths "always" or "frequently" felt dry; these individuals were significantly more likely to have last seen a dentist for emergency (rather than routine) treatment (P <0.01) and rated their oral health as significantly worse (P <0.001) than participants whose mouths "never" or "occasionally" feel dry. A small percentage (5.7%) requested to speak with pharmacists about oral health; they reported poorer oral health than those who opted not to speak with a pharmacist (P <0.05).

Conclusion: One in 4 patients reported having dry mouth, and those with dry mouth reported significantly worse oral health than patients without dry mouth. Although dry mouth and poor oral health were common in this sample of individuals taking psychotropic medications, this did not consistently translate into seeking information regarding oral health. Future research will focus on pharmacist-initiated oral health interventions with high-risk patients.

Figure 1

Self-reported oral health by request for a pharmacy oral health consult