Oral Manifestations in Drug Users: a Review
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J Clin Exp Dent. 2020;12(2):e193-200. Oral manifestations in drug users Journal section: Oral Medicine and Pathology doi:10.4317/jced.55928 Publication Types: Review https://doi.org/10.4317/jced.55928 Oral manifestations in drug users: A review Federico Cossa 1, Alessia Piastra 2, Mª Gracia Sarrion-Pérez 3, Leticia Bagán 4 1 Student of the master of Implantology at the Universidad Europea de Valencia. Graduated in Dentistry at the Universidad Europea de Valencia 2 Student of the master of Endodontics at the University of Valencia. Graduated in Dentistry at the Universidad Europea de Valencia 3 PhD, Associate Professor. Faculty of Health Sciences. Department of Dentistry. European University of Valencia. Spain 4 PhD, Titular professor. Faculty of Health Sciences. Department of Dentistry. European University of Valencia. Spain Correspondence: Universidad Europea de Valencia Paseo Alameda, 7 46010 – Valencia, Spain [email protected] Cossa F, Piastra A, Sarrion-Pérez MG, Bagán L. Oral manifestations in drug users: A review. J Clin Exp Dent. 2020;12(2):e193-200. http://www.medicinaoral.com/odo/volumenes/v12i2/jcedv12i2p193.pdf Received: 24/06/2019 Accepted: 08/01/2020 Article Number: 55928 http://www.medicinaoral.com/odo/indice.htm © Medicina Oral S. L. C.I.F. B 96689336 - eISSN: 1989-5488 eMail: [email protected] Indexed in: Pubmed Pubmed Central® (PMC) Scopus DOI® System Abstract Background: In the dental environment there is not much talk about the oral manifestations resulting from the use of drugs, because in general the issue of drugs is a very difficult subject to deal with. Therefore, the objective of this work is to understand what are the most obvious manifestations in the oral cavity and as the dentist can detect them. Material and Methods: In order to carry out this bibliographical review, a scientific article search was made by consulting the PubMed database. The abstracts were read to recruit only what was consistent with the chosen topic. Results: The 23 sources of information affirmed the relationship between a bad state of general health, and more in the specific, bad state of oral cavity. Conclusions: The most relevant manifestations were: decay, loss of teeth and precancerous lesions. These manifes- tations were present in most of the cases studied. All this is a consequence of the drug and the lifestyle acquired by the drug users studied. Key words: Drug, caries, meth mouth, periodontitis, xerostomia. Introduction To date, drug abuse is one of the world’s most devasta- In 1992, the WHO defined drug addiction as “a state, ting health problems, the root cause of risky behaviors, psychic and sometimes also physical, resulting in the violence, and social problems (2,3). interaction between a living organism and a drug, cha- Globally, it is estimated that a 275 million of the adult racterized by behavioral and other responses that always population aged 15-64 years used drugs at least once in include a compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or 2016. Some 31 million of substance abusers, are esti- periodic basis in order to experience its psychic effects, mated to suffer from drug use disorders. Opiates, such and sometimes to avoid the discomfort of its absence. as heroine and opium, are the substances that cause the Tolerance may or may not be present (1).” highest negative health impact; however, cannabis re- e193 J Clin Exp Dent. 2020;12(2):e193-200. Oral manifestations in drug users mains the world’s most widely used drug, by an estima- latal perforation”, “oral health”, “dry mouth”, “caries”, ted 192.2 million people, amphetamines are still in se- “cocaine”, “heroine”, “methamphetamine”, “cannabis”, cond place with an estimated 34.2 million users, cocaine “marihuana”, “periodontal disease” and “dental disea- users amount to nearly 18.2 million worldwide, and se”. These keywords were combined with the boolean approximately 19.4 million people have used opiates. operators “AND” and “OR”. Estimated figures of drug use in Europe in 2017 show Review articles, clinical trials, comparative studies and 24 million adults aged 15-64 years used cannabis, 3.5 cases series were included, as well as systematic reviews million cocaine users, an estimated 1.7 million amphe- and metanalysis. tamine users and 1.3 million are estimated to have used With the words we have chosen and the filters, we have opiates. found 194 articles. Of these, we have eliminated they Many drug users tend to be polydrug users, making the also included drugs such as alcohol, medication, and to- entire drug-use scenario rather complicated. bacco. The most common method of using cannabis is by smo- We drew on information from 23 articles to complete king it mixed with tobacco; health problems may in- our work, in addition to 4 booklets by UNODC (Uni- crease with the use of higher potency cannabis products, ted Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) and EMCDDA especially those with high concentrations of the psy- (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Ad- choactive component, tetrahydrocannabinol. Common diction). The selection process is illustrated as a PRIS- physical health problems include chronic respiratory MA flow diagram, (Fig. 1). symptoms or mental health problems, such as cannabis dependence and psychotic symptoms. Results Snorting cocaine is common, however, marginalized Of the 23 articles, 3 were used only for introduction and users are more likely to inject it or smoke crack cocaine were not included for the results, for the results of this (4). Cocaine stimulates the dopamine system, inducing review we have selected 20, of which: 2 retrospective a feeling of euphoria and arousal (5), the most severe cohort study, 3 reviews, 8 cross-sectional study, 1 pros- complications are seizures, hemorrhagic and ischemic pective cohort study, 1 retrospective observational case, strokes, myocardial infarction, aortic dissection, rhab- 1 systematic review, 3 pilot studies and 1 comparative domyolysis, mesenteric ischemia, acute renal injury, study. multiple organ failure, and fast destructive processes in Of these articles, 3 speak only of cocaine, 1 speaks only the midfacial region, and is important the differential of heroin, 1 of cannabis alone and 9 of methamphetami- diagnosis with these other diseases like Wegener´s gra- ne alone. The remaining articles have been divided in nulomatosis, NK/T cell lymphoma, infections and other mixed drugs: 3 articles bring together heroin, cocaine neoplasias (4,6). Cocaine use during pregnancy increa- and cannabis; 2 articles put together cocaine and canna- ses the risk of a foetus with a cleft palate (5). bis; 1 articles talk about heroin and methamphetamine. Amphetamines may be inhaled or injected, smoked, The main characteristics of the different articles are de- swallowed as a pill or dissolved in a drink (7). These tailed in table 1, 1 cont., 1 cont.1. substances produce an intense rush of pleasure, a sen- se of euphoria and a general state of dehydration (8,9). Discussion People who inject drugs (PWID) are more exposed to in- It is difficult to identify and isolate the root causes of fectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis, oral diseases among addicts, since they show a variety of accidental overdose, and anesthesia complications (10). unhealthy behaviors. Poor oral hygiene, increased sugar Drug abuse has both direct and indirect consequences intake, and inappropriate nutrition, life style and limited for oral health; the associated complications may result education do not favor the proper use of dental service from direct exposure of oral tissues to drugs during smo- (2). king or ingestion, biologic interaction of drugs with nor- The authors showed the oral side effects of cannabis: mal physiology of oral cavity, and the effects of drugs on periodontal disease, xerostomia, increased risk of decay, the brain and on systemic functions (2). erosion of enamel due to cannabinoid hyperemesis, pul- The aim of this bibliographic review is to explore the pitis, increased risk of candidiasis, leukoplakia, precan- lesions that may appear in the oral area as a result of cerous lesions and oral carcinoma (2,11). substance abuse, focusing on the most commonly used Thomson et al. (12) observed that cannabis smoking drugs nowadays. was a risk factor for periodontal disease among young adults. One or more periodontal sites with a 4 mm or Material and Methods greater loss of clinical attachment level (CAL) reached In this bibliographic review research was carried out 29.3% at 32 years of age. on PubMed for articles published from 2006 to 2018, Users with high exposure present 7 times greater the the keywords being: “drug abuse”, “side effects”, “pa- risk compared to none users, of developing periodontal e194 J Clin Exp Dent. 2020;12(2):e193-200. Oral manifestations in drug users Fig. 1: Flow diagram. disease. The periodontal effects of tobacco smoke are also observed a decrease in salivary flow, although they thought to occur via the systemic effects of nicotine and emphasize that determining the real cause of this disor- other toxic constituents on immune function and the der in this type of patients is complicated as they are inflammatory response within the periodontal tissues. polydrug users (1,14). Cannabis contains more than 400 compounds, the cons- Mateos Moreno et al. (1) also detected a reduction in the tituents are similar to tobacco those have been reported buffer capacity of saliva in the drug users analyzed and to carry systemic health risks and have histopathological an increase of Streptococcus Mutans and Lactobacillus effects that are similar to those of tobacco smoke (12). in the saliva of individuals addicted to substances. This Also the study by Gigena et al. (13) revealed that ado- data does not comply with the results of Gigena et al. lescent consumers of cannabis and cocaine have a higher (13) who did not find xerostomia and any decrease in risk of developing periodontal disease, only 20% of con- the buffer capacity in the sample of addicted individuals sumers had periodontal health.