Dental Pain in Homeless Adults in Porto Alegre, Brazil

International Dental Journal

Matheus Neves¹  Fernando Neves Hugo²  Juliana Balbinot Hilgert²  Marcela Obst Comassetto² 

[1] Department of Preventive and Social Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil;Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil;

关键词: Homeless persons;    Oral health;    Toothache;    Pain;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Objective: To evaluate the association of dental pain with time living on the street in a sample of homeless people in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with homeless people who accessed social services in 2017. A questionnaire was administered covering socioeconomic variables and including questions about general health, use of tobacco/alcohol/drugs, use of dental services and history of dental pain. The decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index was calculated in an oral examination. The association between socioeconomic characteristics, health status, time of homelessness and dental pain was evaluated using chi-square, t-, and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: A total sample of 214 homeless people was surveyed. Most were male (76.2%), had a low level of education (67.6%) and experienced many episodes of dental pain during life (91.0%). The last episode of pain was moderate or intense (79.7%) and do-it-yourself measures for pain relief were preferred (62.3%). Individuals who were homeless for longer than 1 year had more dental pain in the past (P < 0.001), more frequency of a recent episode of dental pain (P = 0.03), and sought a dentist or healthcare service to relieve pain less frequently (P = 0.03). Conclusions: Dental pain is frequent in the context of homelessness and does not necessarily result in seeking dental services, even where there is universal oral health care.

【 授权许可】

Unknown