Oral health in patients with renal disease: a longitudinal study from predialysis to kidney transplantation.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this longitudinal study was to compare the oral health of chronic kidney disease patients at the predialysis (baseline) and post-transplantation (follow-up) stages and to investigate differences in oral health between diabetic nephropathy and other kidney disease patients at follow-up.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-three kidney disease patients (34 men) aged 31-86 years were followed up to 157 months. Clinical and radiological oral examinations, salivary and laboratory analyses, and oral health behavior questionnaires were conducted at the predialysis and follow-up stages at Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. Oral inflammatory burden was estimated by calculating deep periodontal pockets, periodontal inflammatory burden (PIBI), decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT), and total dental indices (TDI). Results were analyzed using cross-tabulation Pearson chi-square or Fisher's exact test and the Mann-Whitney U test, and the McNemar and Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

RESULTS: At the predialysis stage, patients more often had calculus and deep periodontal pockets; TDI, PIBI, number of teeth, and salivary flow rates were also statistically significantly higher compared to follow-up. At follow-up, diabetic nephropathy patients more often had Candida growth, more plaque, and used more drugs and had lower stimulated salivary flow than patients with other kidney diseases.

CONCLUSION: Oral health was better at follow-up than at the predialysis stage; however, attention should be given to the lower salivary flow rate and higher number of drugs used at that stage.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study confirms the importance of treating oral infectious foci at the predialysis stage in order to prevent adverse outcomes after kidney transplantation.