Patients suffering from severe COPD encounter frequent episodes of exacerbations. The anatomical continuity between the oral cavity and the lung makes it a potential reservoir for respiratory pathogens that could be aspirated and cause the exacerbations. The objective of this pilot study was to determine the association between the oral health, oral hygiene in particular and the frequency of exacerbations. The study included 55 patients with severe COPD. Data were collected using various questionnaires and examinations. The results showed that poor oral hygiene was correlated significantly with the increase in number of exacerbations. There was a trend towards bad oral health in patients with high frequency of exacerbations however it was not significantly different between the two groups of low and high frequency of exacerbations. The results of bivariate and multiple logistic regression showed no statistical significant association between oral hygiene status and the frequency of exacerbations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.80163 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Al-Jawder, Mareya |
| Contributors | Bourbeau, Jean (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Faculty of Dentistry.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002032436, proquestno: AAIMQ98586, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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