Effects of Yoga therapy in teaching oral hygiene practice and tooth brushing skills in patients with Parkinson's disease: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder associated with heterogeneous symptoms. Though it is characterized by means of four distinct motor symptoms such as resting tremors, muscular rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability. These patients also have deficits in fine motor skills while performing simple tasks such as brushing their own teeth, taking bath, remembering small details, and writing skills. The study aimed to qualitatively evaluate the effectiveness of Yoga therapy in teaching oral hygiene practice and subsequently, on tooth brushing skills in patients who were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted on 100 patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Institutional ethical committee permission was obtained prior to commencing the study. Written informed consent was obtained from patients or their caregivers before conducting this study. Detailed clinical history was recorded and gender characteristics were noted down. In the present study, there were 67 female and 33 male participants. Yoga exercises were taught to Parkinson's patients by a qualified yoga instructor. Improvements in toothbrushing skills were noted down by a single operator and oral hygiene status was analyzed using gingival index and plaque index on follow-up durations at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months. Yoga exercises comprised of warming up, stretching, yoga breathing exercises or pranayama, and/or relaxation process. Statistical analysis was performed by use of IBM SPSS Version 20.0. (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) software designed for Windows. Intra-group comparison between categorical variables was done by statistical test-paired student ‘t-test’. RESULTS: On comparing plaque indices, the mean ± SD plaque index at 1(st), 2(nd), 3(rd), and 6(th) months were 1.89 ± 0.02, 1.72 ± 0.01, 1.42 ± 0.12, and 0.56 ± 0.02, respectively. Mean ± SD gingival index scores at 1(st) month, 2(nd) month, 3(rd) month, and 6(th)-month durations, scores were 1.76 ± 0.06, 1.57 ± 0.12, 1.23 ± 0.02, and 0.76 ± 0.01, respectively. Statistical significance difference was noted on comparing the indices scores. CONCLUSION: Yoga practice has been shown to improve toothbrushing skills and oral hygiene in Parkinson's disease patients.