Brak świadomości pacjentów na temat korelacji pomiędzy cukrzycą, chorobami układu sercowo-naczyniowego a zapaleniem przyzębia – problem pacjentów czy lekarzy?

Angelika Kalińska¹, Bartłomiej Górski¹, Renata Górska², *Maciej Zaremba²

Summary
Introduction:Periodontitis by increasing inflammatory response imfluences the health of diabetics and cardiac patients accelerating the course of their systemic disease.
Aim: Assessment of patients' awareness of the importance of oral hygiene and its influence on general health. Evaluation of the role of dentists and GPs in awareness of those issues.
Material and methods: A questionaire of 15 questions was created, concerning the reasons of patients' appointment at a periodontologist or the reasons of referral, symptoms observed in oral cavities, patients' awareness of interaction between general health and periodontitis and source of this knowledge. A cross-section of 200 patients of the Department of Periodontology was interviewed.
Results: 69.3% of patients were women over the age of 50. Patients were mainly referred by dentists. Among symptoms of periodontitis patients identified calculus (16.12%), recessions of gingiva (13.55%), bleeding during brushing (13.08%), all of which have lasted more than 6 months (52.98%) before patients' appearance at periodontologist. As a major cause of calculus build-up patients considered bad oral hygiene (21%), bacteria (15%), food intake (14%). 15% of patients did not know causative factors. Over 50% of interviewees suffer from diseases correlated with oral hygiene condition (risk group), yet only 48% of this group knew about this correlation. Patients want to be informed (88.7%), in contrary 55.5% of dentists and 83.24% of physicians don't give them such information.
Conclusion: Patients' awareness is insufficient and doctors do not educate them. Patients with diabetes and cardiac problems should be referred to GDP as a routine procedure to control basic disease.

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