Prevalence of orofacial alterations in patients with sickle-cell disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Prevalence of Pulp Stones in Patients Visiting the Dental Hospital of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University: A Correlative Retrospective Study

INTRODUCTION

Dental pulp stones are distinct calcified bodies that can be found in teeth that are healthy, diseased, or even unerupted. Pulp stones are suggested to be a manifestation of various systemic and genetic diseases affecting different organs of the body. Therefore, this study aimed to correlate the prevalence of pulp stones with gender, nationality, age, dental status, and systemic diseases.

METHODS

The medical records and radiographs of patients who visited the screening clinics and the Department of Oral Diagnosis at the College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, between January 2017 and June 2018 were analyzed in this study. Two examiners evaluated the digital orthopantomographs (OPGs) to identify the prevalence of pulp stones concerning the patient's age, gender, nationality, arch position, and medical condition.

RESULTS

A total of 153 patient records were examined, and pulp stones were detected in 43.1% of the patients. Among the nationalities, Saudi patients were the most affected at 57.6%, while 42.4% were non-Saudi. The maximum occurrence of pulp stones was observed in age group 4 (9.2%), while the minimum occurrence was in age group 8 (0.7%). The maximum occurrence of pulp stones (21.2%) was observed in age group 4 (36-45 years), while the minimum occurrence was 7.6% in age group 2 (16-25 years). Out of all examined patients, 46 (30.1%) patients were medically compromised. Among these medically compromised patients, radiographic examination showed that 56.5% (n=26) had pulp stones.

CONCLUSION

This study supports the idea that dental radiographs are useful in detecting pulp stones. Further research is required to explore the potential of using dental radiographs as a screening tool for the early detection of systemic diseases.

Dental Caries in Children with Sickle Cell Disease and Its Association with the Use of Hydroxyurea and Penicillin Prophylaxis in Dar Es Salaam

Purpose

This comparative study sets out to report dental caries status among individuals with Sickle Cell Disease (HbSS) against those with sickle cell trait (HbSA) and those without the disease (HbAA) as controls. The study further assessed the impact of penicillin chemoprophylaxis and hydroxyurea use on dental caries among Sickle Cell Disease participants.

Methods

This was a comparative cross-sectional study in which 93 children aged 30 to 60 months were recruited. There were 60 participating children who had SCD (HbSS), 17 with SCD trait (HbAS) and 16 were without SCD or SC trait (HbAA). A questionnaire was used to record sociodemographic details including mean age in months and sex and on haemoglobin genotype for all the participants. Specifically, for the participants with HbSS, information on their whether they are taking hydroxyurea (HU), and penicillin chemoprophylaxis was recorded. To assess the prevalence of dental caries, clinical examination of all primary maxillary and mandibular teeth to determine the presence or absence of dental caries lesions was also recorded.

Results

A total of 1197 teeth from 93 children were examined, whereby, 45 (2.4%) of them had dental caries. The participating children with HbAA genotype (6.6%, N=21) had more dental caries than their HbSS counterparts (2.0%, N=24), while none of the participants with HbAS exhibited dental caries. Among the participants with HbSS, males and those who use HU were 3.79 and 3.07 times more likely to have dental caries than their counterparts, female and non-users of HU, respectively.

Conclusion

Dental caries was observed to be low among participants with HbSS when compared to those with HbAA. More research utilizing more robust methodologies is recommended.