The relationship between oral and dental health and appendicitis

Abstract

PURPOSE: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between appendicitis and OHI-S index values indicating a lack of oral hygiene and DMFT index values indicating oral health disorder in 84 patients with histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of appendicitis who underwent surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 84 patients who underwent surgical operation with a prediagnosis of acute appendicitis and diagnosed with appendicitis on postoperative histopathologic examination between April 2022 and May 2023 were enrolled in this study. The patients’ demographic characteristics, complete blood count parameters at admission, radiologic results, operative findings and postoperative pathology data were recorded. The control group consisted of 32 subjects with no known systemic diseases or history of appendectomy who were admitted to the dental hospital for treatment and who consented to participate in the study. In our study, "Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth" (DMFT) and "Simplified Oral Hygiene Index" (OHI-S) indices were used to evaluate oral health. The DMFT index is an index system in which all teeth are assessed to establish the cavity rate while the OHI-S index is an index system used in the assessment of oral hygiene. RESULTS: 43 of the subjects participating in the study were female (37.1%) and 73 were male (62.9%). While the mean age of all of subjects was 29.1± 8.5, the mean ages of men and women were 29,7± 8 and 27.9± 9.3, respectively. Subjects in the control group were grouped as group 1 while subjects diagnosed with AA were grouped as group 2. While 71.4% of the individuals diagnosed with AA never or occasionally brushed their teeth, this rate was 50% in the control group. A statistically significant difference was observed in terms of tooth brushing habits between the groups (p<0.05). The comparison of the OHI-S index values of the subjects in the groups revealed that the OHI-S index values of subjects diagnosed with appendicitis were statistically significantly higher than those in the control group (3.53±1.43, 2.56±1.24, p<0.05, respectively). According to DMFT index values; DMFT index values of subjects diagnosed with AA were statistically significantly higher than DMFT index values in the control group (12.09±5.51, 8.4±4.73, p<0.05, respectively). CONCLUSION: In this study, OHI-S that indicate a lack of oral hygiene, and DMFT index values that indicate poor oral health were found to be higher in patients who underwent surgery for appendicitis, which in turn led us to correlate appendicitis with oral health. Our findings suggest that poor oral health may increase the risk of appendicitis. From this standpoint, it may be useful to consider oral health in the etiology of appendicitis in future studies.