Expanded Disability Status Scale-Based Disability and Dental-Periodontal Conditions in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between different disability states in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) as determined by the expanded disability status scale (EDSS) and dental-periodontal measures.

Subjects and methods: Eighty patients with MS (64 females and 16 males) were included in this study. Data on MS types, attack frequency, disease duration, EDSS scores and orofacial complaints prior to an MS attack were obtained from medical records. The plaque index (PI), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), gingival index (GI), decayed-missing-filled teeth (DMFT) index and number of present teeth were measured during one dental examination for each subject. The MS patients were divided into the following 2 groups based on their EDSS scores: low physical disability (L-DS) and high physical disability (H-DS). Differences in dental parameters between groups of low and high disability were investigated. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 38.06 ± 10.11 years. Age and disease duration were higher in the H-DS MS group than in the L-DS MS group (p < 0.05). The PI, PD and GI were higher and the number of filled teeth was lower in the H-DS MS group than in the L-DS MS group (p < 0.05). The EDSS scores of the H-DS MS group presented a significant correlation with the number of decayed teeth (r = -0.548, p = 0.005). Orofacial complaints prior to an MS attack were reported by 18 (22.5%) patients.

Conclusion: Oral measurements revealed various differences between groups of low and high disability in MS patients. In addition, some maxillofacial-oral complaints prior to an MS attack were observed.