Alcohol Flashcards
What are the 4 criteria needed for a public health problem?
- Prevalence of the condition is high, or if uncommon, the condition should be serious
- Impact of condition on individuals quality of life
- Impact on wider society
- Condition preventable and effective treatments available
Give some details on the high prevalence of alcohol consumption
In the UK, 57% of people aged 16 years and over in 2017 drank alcohol in previous week, i.e. 29.2 million people in the population
Young people aged 16 to 24 years are less likely to drink than any other age group; when they do drink, consumption on their heaviest drinking day tends to be higher than other ages.
People working in managerial and professional occupations, in addition to the highest earners, are most likely drink alcohol
How does alcohol impact quality of life?
Alcohol consumption above lower risk levels is a major cause of conditions (hypertension, liver cirrhosis, CVD, cancers).
Many social problems such as family violence, crime, and injuries are linked with heavy alcohol use.
Alcohol-related craniofacial trauma often includes fractures of the jaws and teeth.
What impact does alcohol have on wider society?
Alcohol-related harm:
→ 1,171,253 hospital admissions in England
→ 7,697 alcohol-specific deaths in the UK
→ 464,000 incidents of violent crime in England and Wales where the victim believed the offender to be under the influence of alcohol (40% of all violent crime)
→ 5% of all road incidents were attributed to drink-drive accidents
Public health burden:
→ direct costs (including costs to the health, criminal justice and welfare systems)
→ indirect costs (including the costs of lost productivity due to absenteeism, unemployment, decreased output or lost working years due to premature pension or death)
→ Global annual cost between 1.3% and 2.7% of annual UK GDP (approximately £21-£52 billion).
What are the 3 main diseases caused from alcohol?
Cancer, heart and periodontal disease.
How is oral cancer linked to alcohol consumption?
→ People drinking 4 or more drinks a day are 5 times more likely to develop mouth and pharynx cancers
→ No apparent association is observed for the duration of alcohol use
→ Stop drinking can reduce alcohol-related risk of oral cancer by 2% for each year of abstinence
→ Alcohol and tobacco consumption demonstrate a multiplicative synergistic effect
How is dental trauma and alcohol consumption linked?
→ The prevalence of dental trauma is significantly associated with hazardous alcohol use
→ Dental trauma is associated with binge drinking
→ Accidents and falls are common because excessive alcohol drinking may affect balance and co-ordination
→ Excessive alcohol consumption is one of the main risk factors in causing violent behaviour or domestic abuse. This may result in trauma to the face and teeth
What advice is given following alcohol consumption?
→ To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level, the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) advise it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis
→ Limiting the total amount of alcohol you drink on any single occasion
→ Drinking more slowly, drinking with food, and alternating with water
→ Planning ahead to avoid problems (unsafety conducts, misjudging risky situations, and losing self-control)
What is one unit of alcohol equivalent to?
→ One unit of alcohol is 10ml (by volume) or 8g (by weight) of pure alcohol
→ This is equivalent to:
• Half a pint of ordinary strength beer, lager or cider (3-4% alcohol by volume)
• A small pub measure (25ml) of spirits (40% alcohol by volume)
• A standard pub measure (50ml) of fortified wine such as sherry or port (20% alcohol by volume)
• Half a glass (87.5 ml) of wine (12% by volume)
How do we work out the number of units in a drink?
% of alcohol X volume drank
Divided by 1000
What are the 3 risk levels for alcohol consumption?
Lower risk
No level of alcohol consumption is completely safe. ‘Lower risk’ is not regularly exceeding 14 units per week, spread evenly over the week
Increasing risk
More than 14 units per week
Higher risk
Regularly drinking more than 35 units per week for women and more than 50 units per week for men • Binge drinking Drinking too much or too quickly. Can lead to risky behaviour and increased risk of injury
What is the role of the dental team in supporting drinkers?
raising awareness of drinking guidelines and whether patients are exceeding these lower risk levels
offering them feedback on how their drinking may adversely affect their oral and general health
providing support such as resources to supporting alcohol consumption levels reduction
