Introduction:

Oral health has been identified as one of the factors that can negatively influence the control of chronic diseases such as rheumatic diseases; Inflammatory and infectious processes constitute the main alterations of oral health in patients with this type of disease.

Objective:

To evaluate the oral health of patients with rheumatic diseases treated at the Hospital General Andino de Chimborazo.

Methods:

A basic, non-experimental and descriptive research was carried out with a universe of 169 patients with rheumatic diseases treated at the Andean General Hospital of Chimborazo during the period December 2021 - April 2022. The sample was made up of 136 patients who met the inclusion criteria defined for the research. Each of them underwent a general oral examination to identify the oral health alterations present in each case.

Results:

Average age of 51.23 years, predominance of female patients (78.68%), diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (77.20%) and evolution time of rheumatic disease less than 5 years (44.12%). 72.80% of the patients presented at least one oral disease. Partial or total adentia (61.62%) and the presence of dental caries (52.52%) were the most frequently identified. 30.88% of patients only go to dental control in the presence of pain and in 71.32% oral health was considered inadequate.

Conclusions:

A high percentage of patients with rheumatic disease who presented at least one oral condition was identified. There was a predominance of patients who only attend a dental consultation in the presence of an urgency or emergency. The oral health of the patients is inadequate.

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