Oral home care and the reasons for seeking dental care by individuals on renal dialysis.

A cross-sectional study of 90 patients on renal dialysis was conducted to assess oral home care practices and the reasons for seeking dental care among these patients. Participants were divided into three groups based on the time they have been on renal dialysis. The groups were: (1) dialysis for less than one year, (2) dialysis for 1 to 3 years, and (3) dialysis for more than 3 years. Information regarding oral home care such as frequency of brushing, oral hygiene aids, and reasons for seeking dental care was obtained through a personal interview with the patients. Their oral health status was assessed using a plaque index and a gingival index. The means of plaque index were 1.716 (S.D 0.64), 2.161 (S.D 0.36), and 2.255 (S.D 0.42) respectively for the groups. The means of gingival index were 1.4278 (S.D 0.67), 1.9667 (S.D 0.38), and 2.0556 (S.D 0.35) for the three groups respectively. Tukey's post hoc test showed significant difference in both the indices between first and second groups and between the first and third groups, no significant difference was found between the second and third groups. The results indicate that oral home care practices were inadequate due to the presence of an unacceptable level of oral hygiene among the patients. Miswak (a wooden, Salvadora persica, chewing stick that is popular in the middle east to mechanically clean the teeth) has been found to be popular among the subjects. The primary purpose of dental clinic visits was for treatment of a dental problem rather than for the prevention of dental disease. There is a need for oral health promotion and especially prevention programs among the patients on renal dialysis.