A psychiatric study of cases attending dental o.p.d of a teaching general hospital.

One hundred thirty cases were selected by systematic sampling from those attending the dental O.P.D. of a teaching general hospital, excluding those under 14 years and those unable to read and write Hindi well. They were administered a questionnaire carrying 50 questions covering dental and non-dental (mainly psychiatric) symptoms and the Hindi version of Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire. After this they were seen by a dental surgeon and a psychiatrist separately. Nearly a quarter of the cases had no dental disease and only slightly less than half had a definite psychiatric illness. Dental O.P.D. cases scored significantly higher on the M.H.Q. as compared to normal controls. The younger patients had the maximum score of the OBS subscale while the older ones scored maximum on the D.F.P sub-scale. The number of symptoms complained of by the patients were directly related to their M.H.Q, scores.