Dental health in a group of drug addicts in Italy

The caries prevalence, periodontal health, and oral hygiene status were assessed in 124 drug addicts aged 18-34 yr in Mercato San Severino (Salerno), Italy. The years of drug addiction ranged from 1 to 15 yr. The majority used heroin (96%) but all the subjects indicated that they had used more than one drug. The percentage of drug addicts caries free was 6.5%, ranging from no caries free subjects in the group over 29 yr of age, to 11.4% in the group aged 26-29 yr old. Mean DMFT and DMFS scores for all age groups were 12.9 and 36.2, respectively; mean Periodontal Index (PI) and mean Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) scores were 1.37 and 1.71, respectively. The poor dental health in this target group indicates the need for more extensive collaboration between the social and dental health care sectors.