Impact of epilepsy on oral and dental health status in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in children, and both the condition and its treatments can significantly affect oral health. This systematic review aimed to assess the oral and dental health status of epileptic children. This secondary study involved a systematic literature search up to June 2024, using databases including Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane, and PubMed. Articles were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and their quality was assessed using NIH checklist. Data were analyzed using Stata 17 software. The I² test evaluated heterogeneity. The Begg's and Mazumdar's test detected publication bias. From a total of 692 articles, 8 were included in the meta-analysis. Healthy and epileptic children were compared in 4 indices: DMFT, dmft, gingival index and plaque index. The mean differences of DMFT and dmft between two groups with epilepsy and healthy children were not significant with the effect sizes of 0.131 (P-value = 0.133; 95% CI: -0.040-0.303) and 0.137 (P-value = 0.597; 95% CI: 0.371-0.646), respectively. The mean differences of gingival index and plaque index were significantly higher in epileptic children compared to healthy ones with the effect sizes of 0.880 (Pvalue < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.583-1.178) and 0.788. (P-value < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.509-1.067) respectively. There was no significant difference in the rate of caries in children with epilepsy compared to healthy children. However, the plaque index and gingival index were significantly higher in children with epilepsy.