Prevalence of dental decay among children suffering from congenital heart diseases

Introduction: In general, dental decay and periodontal diseases have low mortality, but both have high levels of distribution and are responsible for pain in the oral cavity region, loss of teeth, and represent risk factors for other systemic complications, especially among children . Aim: The aim of this article is to assess dental decay prevalence in a group of children with congenital heart diseases (CHDs) and to compare it with the same indicator in a group of healthy, age- and gender-matched controls. Materials and Methods: Subject of monitoring of the prospective clinical research are 100 children from Varna region. Half of them (n=50) were diagnosed with CHDs and the other half (n=50) were healthy controls. Both groups were also divided into two age groups: from 4 to 7 years of age (n CHDs = 25; n Ctr. = 25) and from 8 to 17 years of age (n CHDs = 25; n Ctr. = 25). The dental status was examined and registered according to WHO, using the dmft/DMFT index. Possible risk factors for dental caries development were also registered. Results: Children with CHDs had statistically significant higher mean values of dmft/DMFT indices than healthy controls (age group 4-7 years: 5.5±3.2 vs. 4.3±1.2; age group 8-17 years: 5.6±2.9 vs. 3.6±2.3). The registered fillings among patients with CHDs were scarce. A total of 71% of patients with CHDs were subjected to regular oral medications intake due to the main chronic disease. Children with heart anomalies were mainly of low socio-economic status and had not received more intensive dental prophylaxis than healthy controls. A total of 98% of all examined patients (n=100) were affected by dental decay (dmft/DMFT > 0). Conclusion:  The findings from this research clearly show that the group of children with CHDs are more severely affected by dental decay than the control group of healthy children. Children with CHDs are at disadvantage, because the development of oral diseases in these patients may affect their overall medical condition. Prolonged oral pharmacotherapy and low socio-economic status, which affect oral health, are possible risk factors for dental decay development in these medically compromised children.