Prevalence Of Oral Manifestations in Renal Failure Patients Undergoing Dialysis: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: To assess the prevalence of oral manifestations in renal failure patients undergoing dialysis and to analyse possible association between oral manifestations and relevant laboratory findings in these patients. METHODS: The study population consisted of 150 renal failure patients undergoing dialysis and 150 patients were taken as controls from Outpatient Department. Detailed history was recorded, thorough clinical examination was performed and laboratory investigations like serum creatinine, Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN), Serum potassium were evaluated. All the relevant data were subjected to statistical analysis. RESULTS: Results showed that out of the 150 cases and controls examined, age group above 50 years showed highest prevalence of renal disease. Patients undergoing dialysis had highest prevalence of hypertension. The most common and frequently observed oral manifestations were dysguesia (70.7%), uremic odor (68.0%), metallic taste (60.0%), dry mouth (58.7%), low caries rate (55.3%), increased calculus (52.0%) and burning mucosa (50.7%). Candidiasis was observed in 19.3% patients. All the laboratory findings were higher in patients with oral manifestations. The difference between both study and control groups was found to be statistically significant CONCLUSION: The present study showed increase in the prevalence of oral manifestations in patients undergoing dialysis. This study may aid clinicians’ understanding and, therefore, early identification of oral manifestations in individuals with chronic renal failure. The present study should be further evaluated by doing long term follow up studies on larger samples.