Objectives

To establish the prevalence of oral mucosa lesions in a captive population, and to find out the association between oral lesions and history of psychoactive drug use.

Methods

Cross-sectional study, performed from October 1999 through December 2004, based on examination of the mouth of prison inmates. The diagnosis of mouth lesions was made according to pre-established clinical criteria. Data related to epidemiological and clinical aspects such as mouth hygiene, use of prosthesis, cutting edges, history of alterations in the oral mucosa, use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs, systemic illnesses, serologic HIV status, sexual practices, and history of psychoactive drug use, were all assessed. Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were calculated, χ2 and Fisher’s exact test were used, also a multivariate analysis was performed.

Results

Fifty-four subjects (91% male) were studied; median age, 27 years old (range 16-60). A total of 39/52 (75%) had history of psychoactive drug use. Mouth lesions were found in 94% of subjects; the most common being melanotic hyperpigmentation and scars. A higher frequency of melanosis was encountered in marihuana users (p = 0.03); also scars (p = 0.01) were more frequent among anxiolytic users (p = 0.04) than in those using other drugs. In contrast, the lowest prevalence of Fordyce’s disease was encountered among users of heroin alone (p = 0.04), regardless of confounding factors.

Conclusions

In our study, prison subjects showed a high frequency of oral mucosa lesions. A close association was found between certain mouth conditions and history of use of some psychoactive drugs.

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