Persistent Oral Dyskinesia in Female Mental Hospital Patients

An association between certain persistent oral dyskinesias and medication with phenothiazines has been observed in middle-aged and elderly women for several years. In most of the published reports it is held that the phenothiazines are an important cause of the abnormal movements, since phenothiazines are known to exert a selective action on the basal ganglia. Other possible causes, however, are almost invariably present. These are brain damage from disease, leucotomy or electroconvulsive therapy (Hunter, Earl and Janz, 1964; Hunter, Earl and Thornicroft, 1964; Uhrbrand and Faurbye, 1960), and buccal factors such as ill-fitting dentures or the edentulous state (Joyston-Bechal, 1965; Evans, 1965). Similar dyskinesias are also said to occur with brain damage when phenothiazines have not been given (Rosin and Exton-Smith, 1965).