Background: The aim of our study was to perform a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis in order to investigate relationship between drug use and oral health. Methods: We searched for studies in English published before July 1, 2019 on PsycINFO, PubMed, SciELO, Scopus, and Web of Science. We assessed the relationship between drug use (methamphetamines, heroin; opiates; crack, cocaine and cannabis as dependent variables) and reported tooth loss, periodontal disease, or decayed, missing, and filled teeth index as an independent variable. The data were analyzed using Stata 12.0 software. Results:We initially identified 1836 potential articles (with 1100 duplicates) and screened the remaining 736 titles and abstracts, comprising 54 studies. In the next step, we evaluated the full-texts; 44 studies were excluded, accordingly. In total, we included 10 publications in the meta-analysis. Drug type was associated with periodontal disease (OR 1.44; 95% CI 0.8-2.6) and pooled estimates showed that type of drug used increased the odds of the number of decayed, missed and filled teeth (DMFT) (OR 4.11; 95% CI 2.07-8.15) respectively. Conclusions: The analytical challenges of segregating the impact of individual drug types on oral health diseases mean that investigations on the direct relationship between oral health status and drug use are limited. Developing programs to improve potential confounding with various substances and addressing the dental health needs of people who use drugs is vital if we are to improve their overall quality of life.

Objective In the present study, we attempted to assess how psychological theories (health belief model [HBM], theory of planned behaviour [TPB], social cognitive theory [SCT], clinical theories [CT] and other theories [OT]) influence oral health interventions. Methods PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane and Web of Knowledge databases from 2000 to 2017 were searched. We defined psychological theories based on five subgroups: (A) HBM, (B) TPB, (C) SCT, (E) CT and (F) OT. Results From the 156 identified studies, 19 studies based on PICO were included. Our findings indicated that the standardized mean difference (SMD) of HBM was 0.37 (95% CI: 0.24, 0.51), which was statistically significant in improving oral health. The SMD of SCT was not significant (0.05 [95% CI: −0.33, 0.44]) in improving oral health. The SMD of TPB was significant (1.66 [95% CI: 1.06, 2.27]) in improving oral health. The SMD of CT (−4.6 [95% CI: −6.49, −2.71]) and OT (2.93 [95% CI: 1.55, 4.32]) revealed significant differences in improving oral health. Conclusion The current meta‐analysis showed that in general, psychological interventions that used OT, CT, HBM and TPB were effective in enhancing oral health status, and interventions that used SCT did not have an effect on improving oral health status. Oral health care providers who work with patients to take methods and improve behaviours that are related to appropriate oral health need to comprehend their applicability and strengths.

Background Tooth decay and periodontitis are among the most prevalent dental diseases globally with adverse effects on an individual’s general health. Recently the prevalence of dental caries has decreased significantly, but caries epidemiology remains a major problem in dental public health. This study investigated the impact of an oral health education intervention on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables, and whether changes in these variables persisted and were associated with changes in identified oral health behaviors at 2-month follow-up. Methods This descriptive pre/post test study was conducted with 160 staff in the Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran. Six hospital wards were selected using a randomized multi-stratified sampling frame. The size for each cluster was calculated as 22 with each ward being allocated to either the intervention or the control arm of the study. Self-report questionnaires were used to evaluate socio-demographic factors, dental attendance as well as the constructs of the augmented TPB model (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control intentions). The intervention was an educational program based on TPB constructs delivered via direct training to half the participants. The control group was provided with usual training only. The independent-samples T-test, Repeated-Measures one-way ANOVA, and matched T-test with the significance level set at p < 0.05 were applied. Results Findings revealed significant variations between the two groups immediately after the educational intervention concerning the attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions to seek treatment, oral health behavior as well as decayed, missing, and filled teeth and bleeding on probing (p<0.001). Two months after the intervention, except for the brushing construct (p = 0.18), the differences between the two groups were all statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion Our findings affirm the positive effect an oral health education program has on enhancing the attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions and behavior of staff in this hospital. The results of our study confirm that developing and applying an educational intervention in accordance with the theory of planned behavior can lead to significant changes in the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of hospital staff regarding preventing tooth decay.