Abstract
A total of 590 new patients who visited our dental clinic in Yagoto Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in the period of April 1994 to March 1995 were obsereved clinico-stastically. Of these 590, 375 (63.6%) were inpatients of our hospital, 43 (7.3%) were from neighbouring gerontic nursing homes, and 172 (29.2%) were outpatients, including hospital staff. A total of 229 (38.8%) were hospitalized in the locked wards, 93 (15.8%) were in general psychiatric wards, 41 (6.9%) were in psychogeriatric wards, and 12 (2.0%) were in wards for internal medicine.
The average age of the subjects was 47.2 years old (male: 44.1, female: 50.4). The youngest patient was 15 years old, and the oldest 92. Regarding age distribution, those in their fifties were most numerous (161 patients, 27.3%), followed by those in their forties (141 patients, 23.9%).
The number of patients who had systemic illnesses was 504 (85.4%). Patients with schizophrenia were most numerous (258 patients, 43.7%), followed by patients with alcoholism (43 patients, 7.3%).
A diagnosis of missing teeth was the most frequent among the patients' chief complaints (92 patients, 15.6%), followed by dental caries (88patients, 14.9%). Pulpectomy (82 patients, 13.9%) was the most frequent procedure performed with respect to the patients' chief complaints, followed by fitting with dentures (78 patients, 13.2%).
