A survey on the pattern of consumption and oral manifestations of a group of addicts in Tehran in 2017

Drug abuse can have harmful effects on the health of the body, especially oral health. The aim of this study was to investigate the oral manifestations of addicts in four maintenance centers in Tehran in 2017.

In this descriptive study, patients' demographic data were recorded in a questionniare, then oral and teeth were  clinically evaluated. Data were analyzed by chi square, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann U-Whitney and Spearman tests with a significance level of 0.05.

The study was performed on 392 addicted individuals. Among this population, 192 person (49%) were women and 200 person (51%) were men. The mean age was 34.9±9.4 years.  Methamphetamine & morphine were the most commonly used drug among women and men, respectively. At least one oral lesion was  present in 31% of women and 18% of men. The erythematous and spongy gingiva with round margin was the most frequent oral manifestation. There was a significant relationship between the duration of addiction withdrawal and all of the variables of color, consistancy, marginal contour and gingival tissue in men (p = 0.03). There was a positive correlation between DMFT index and duration of addiction in women  (p <0.001) and  men (P<0.05). About 75% of the subjects had dry mouth and dental attrition , which increased with the duration of addiction.

Methamphetamine & morphine were the most commonly used drug among women and men, respectively. Dry mouth, spongy and erythematosus gingiva were the most common oral lesions in the addicts.