Oral health advice for people with serious mental illness

Abstract

The objective of this review is to find the effects of oral health advice for people with serious mental illness. We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group Trials Register (October 2009), inspected references of all identified studies, and contacted the first author of each included study if required. We independently extracted data and calculated random effects, relative risk, 95% CI, and, where appropriate, numbers needed to treat/harm on an intention-to-treat basis. For continuous data, we calculated weighted mean differences. Result shows that one randomized controlled trial, randomizing fewer than 60 people to receive oral health motivational interviewing from a psychologist in addition to an education package vs the use of the education package alone. After 8 weeks, the intervention group showed a better dental state and a higher level of knowledge about oral health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)