Assessment of awareness and knowledge of oral-systemic disease connection among medical doctors in Port Harcourt

Abstract

Background: There are many literatures that reported association between periodontal disease (PD) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through  the inflammatory pathway that is common to them. Despite this, there is still a low referral for oral health care by medical practitioners.

Methodology: Sample size was all consenting medical practitioners that attended the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Medical Association in Port Harcourt. Data was collected with self- administered questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS version 20.0. Statistical significance was set at p≤0.05.

Results: One hundred and fifty-six medical doctors were recruited with M: F of 1.5:1. 28.9% were specialists, 14.1% have practised for over 30 years and 90.4% claimed they are aware of what oral health is. 69.9% of participants knew gum disease is a form of periodontal disease, only 50.6% and 19.2% knew  that the aetiological factor is dental plaque and gingival bleeding is the first sign respectively. One quarter of participants did not know that  cigarette smoking is a risk factor for periodontitis. 84.6% will seek the dentist’s opinion and 92.9% will refer patients to them. There was statistical  significance between participants’knowledge of systemic diseases and cadre as regards chronic renal failure, hypertension and diabetes mellitus.  

Conclusion:Participants’ awareness of correlation of NCDs with PD is poor and only a quarter had good and excellent knowledge of the NCDs that are implicated. There is therefore, the need to educate them about this and emphasize the importance of referring their patients for oral care.