Sense of Defeat, Social Status and Oral Health among Forensic Psychiatric Patients

Abstract Aims The aim was to examine how sense of defeat and social status are related to perceived oral health, tooth brushing, and oral health-related quality of life among Dutch male forensic psychiatric patients. Methods The sample consisted of 40 hospitalized forensic psychiatric patients participated. The questionnaire included five questions about moments of tooth brushing, scales for sense of defeat and subjective social status, a scale from 1 to 10 for perceived oral health and a Dutch version of the Oral Health Impact Profile- 14 (OHIP-14). Results The results showed that on the basis of a factor analysis of the OHIP-14, three meaningful scales could be constructed, i.e., functional limitations, social discomfort, and psychological inhibitions. The major results revealed that sense of defeat correlated negatively with tooth brushing after breakfast and before going to sleep, positively with social discomfort because of one’s teeth, mouth, or dentures, not with functional limitations, and negatively with self-perceived oral health. Social status correlated positively with tooth brushing before going to sleep, with psychological inhibitions, but not with social discomfort, and neither with functional limitations. Conclusions and implications The major conclusion is that sense of defeat and social status have theoretically meaningful relations with oral self-care and oral health. Oral health professionals working with male forensic psychiatric patients should be sensitive to the sense of defeat these patients may experience, and to the fact that this may be associated with problems with their oral health and with a lack of oral self-care.