Antipsychotics and oral pathology: an analysis from the European Spontaneous Adverse Event Reporting System

Abstract

Antipsychotic drugs are a useful therapeutic group for the treatment of the symptomatology of psychiatric disorders such as organic and toxic psychoses, bipolar disorder, aggressiveness associated with dementia and of course schizophrenia. Although they are quite effective and are used to control the symptomatology of these disorders, these drugs can produce numerous side effects, including undesirable oral effects. In particular, they may be related to the deterioration of oral health described in schizophrenic patients treated with antipsychotics.

The aim of this study was to analyse the adverse events of antipsychotic drugs on the oral cavity. For this purpose, the European Pharmacovigilance database (EudraVigilance) was searched for adverse events notifications for these drugs reported during the period 2012-2021.

This exploratory analysis showed that, with both typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs, the most reported oral side effects were xerostomia, sialorrhoea and oral dyskinesia, although the number of reports was higher for atypical antipsychotics. Among the typical antipsychotics, haloperidol was the drug for which the most cases of oral pathology were reported, and among the atypical antipsychotics, clozapine.

Considering that xerostomia, sialorrhoea and oral dyskinesia are associated with oral pathology, a better understanding of the safety profile of antipsychotic drugs may improve the physical health and quality of life of people with schizophrenia.