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Browsing by Author "Hirvikangas, Roope"

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  • Alcohol use : underestimated in facial fracture patients? 
    Hirvikangas, Roope (2019)
    ABSTRACT Purpose; The investigators hypothesized that the role of alcohol in facial fracture etiology and patients’ daily life may be underestimated. Methods; A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Alcohol consumption habits were evaluated according to brief intervention and the data was collected with a constructed questionnaire and interview. After review of the patient records, a case-related data collection was performed with the primary predictor variables being mechanism of injury; fracture type; associated injury (any). Outcome variables were alcohol involved in injury (yes/no) and heavy alcohol use (yes/no). The explanatory variables were gender and age. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were computed, and the P value was set at .05. Results; A total of 166 patients were included in the study. 55% of patients reported being under the influence of alcohol during the injury. Alcohol was involved most often in males (P = .0006) and younger age groups (P < .0001); however, it was present in 22% of the cases among the elderly as well. 17% of patients reported heavy alcohol use habits. The majority of the interpersonal violence events had taken place under the influence of alcohol (84%, P < .0001). Patients who were under the influence of alcohol during injury were more often heavy users (P < .0001). There was no correlation between alcohol involvement during injury and associated injuries or type of fracture. Conclusions; The role of alcohol among facial fracture etiology is considerably high. A brief intervention of alcohol should be included routinely in patient care to identify and, if necessary, address the patient's alcohol use in heavy drinkers and to obtain more evidence about the role of alcohol in facial fracture etiology.
  • Characteristics and severity of odontogenic infection in patients referred to hospital care 
    Löfgren, Maja; Hirvikangas, Roope; Snäll, Johanna; Uittamo, Johanna (2019)
    Objectives Odontogenic infections are potentially life threatening especially in immunocompromised patients. The study aimed to investigate predisposing factors for the severity of odontogenic infections, particularly hospital admission and inflammatory parameters. Materials and Methods A prospective clinical study and a questionnaire survey were designed and implemented. The outcome variable was hospitalization, and secondary outcome variables were inflammatory parameters C-reactive protein (CRP) value, white blood cell (WBC) count and body temperature. The primary predictor variables were treatment delay, preceding visits to health services before referral to hospital, focus of infection identified before referral, site of infection focus, postoperative infection because of elective tooth extraction, and previous treatment of infection. Explanatory variables were age, gender, current smoking, heavy alcohol use, disease history and education. Results A total of 88 patients were included to the analysis. Patients’ disease history in general was not significant for hospitalization or infection parameters. Lower education level associated with hospitalization (p=0.033) and leucocytosis was significantly higher in basic level educated patients (p=0.036). In addition, leucocytosis correlated significantly with mandibular infections (p=0.008), previously unidentified infection focus (p=0.010), and with infection due to an elective tooth extraction (p=0.026). Elderly patients were not more prone to more severe infections. Neither gender, current smoking nor heavy alcohol use proved significant for infection severity. Conclusions and clinical relevance Lower education elevates the risk for hospitalization and severe odontogenic infections. Lack of regular dental care or economic challenges can explain this finding.

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