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Oral Health Disorders in Parkinson’s Disease: More than Meets the Eye
Author(s) -
Michel Auffret,
Vincent Meuric,
Émile Boyer,
Martine BonnaureMallet,
Marc Vérin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of parkinson's disease/journal of parkinson's disease (online)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.747
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1877-718X
pISSN - 1877-7171
DOI - 10.3233/jpd-212605
Subject(s) - medicine , disease , quality of life (healthcare) , anxiety , intensive care medicine , depression (economics) , oral hygiene , psychiatry , pathology , nursing , dentistry , economics , macroeconomics
Despite clinical evidence of poor oral health and hygiene in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, the mouth is often overlooked by both patients and the medical community, who generally focus on motor or psychiatric disorders considered more burdensome. Yet, oral health is in a two-way relationship with overall health—a weakened status triggering a decline in the quality of life. Here, we aim at giving a comprehensive overview of oral health disorders in PD, while identifying their etiologies and consequences. The physical (abnormal posture, muscle tone, tremor, and dyskinesia), behavioral (cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders), and iatrogenic patterns associated with PD have an overall detrimental effect on patients’ oral health, putting them at risk for other disorders (infections, aspiration, pain, malnutrition), reducing their quality of life and increasing their isolation (anxiety, depression, communication issues). Interdisciplinary cooperation for prevention, management and follow-up strategies need to be implemented at an early stage to maintain and improve patients’ overall comfort and condition. Recommendations for practice, including (non-)pharmacological management strategies are discussed, with an emphasis on the neurologists’ role. Of interest, the oral cavity may become a valuable tool for diagnosis and prognosis in the near future (biomarkers). This overlooked but critical issue requires further attention and interdisciplinary research.

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