Oral infections and orofacial pain in Alzheimer's disease: a case-control study.
BACKGROUND
Dental infections are frequent and have recently been implicated as a possible risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite a lack of studies investigating orofacial pain in this patient group, dental conditions are known to be a potential cause of pain and to affect quality of life and disease progression.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate oral status, mandibular function and orofacial pain in patients with mild AD versus healthy subjects matched for age and gender.


METHODS
Twenty-nine patients and 30 control subjects were evaluated. The protocol comprised a clinical questionnaire and dental exam, research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders, the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the decayed, missing, and filled teeth index, and included a full periodontal evaluation. AD signs and symptoms as well as associated factors were evaluated by a trained neurologist.


RESULTS
A higher prevalence of orofacial pain (20.7%, p < 0.001), articular abnormalities in temporomandibular joints (p < 0.05), and periodontal infections (p = 0.002) was observed in the study group compared to the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
Orofacial pain and periodontal infections were more frequent in patients with mild AD than in healthy subjects. Orofacial pain screening and dental and oral exams should be routinely performed in AD patients in order to identify pathological conditions that need treatment thus improving quality of life compromised due to dementia.
Orofacial Team, Hospital das Clínicas, and Neurology Department, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Thaís
T
de Souza Rolim
Gisele Maria Campos
GM
Fabri
Ricardo
R
Nitrini
Renato
R
Anghinah
Manoel Jacobsen
MJ
Teixeira
José Tadeu T
JT
de Siqueira
José Augusto Ferrari
JA
Cestari
Silvia Regina Dowgan T
SR
de Siqueira
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
Alzheimer's disease; TMD; oral infections; orofacial pain; periodontitis