Effect of inhaled medication on dental caries index in asthmatic children.

INTRODUCTION: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of airways with a high prevalence among children in pre-school ages. Considering controversial results in different studies about the effect of this disease on the indices of dental caries, the aim of this study was to compare dmft (decay, missing, filling teeth) situation in asthmatic and non-asthmatic 6-12-year-old children. METHODS: This was a case-control study on 46 asthmatic and 47 non-asthmatic children aged 6-12 years. In asthmatic children, the severity of disease, type and dose of the administered inhalational drug, duration of drug consumption, times and technique of drug administration, and washing the mouth after drug consumption was assessed. The index of primary teeth decay or dmft, dental plaque and gingival inflammation were recorded in both groups. Data were analysed by SPSS (ver. 22) using Student's T-test, chi-square test and linear regression. FINDINGS: dmft in case and control groups was 5.25+/-2.25 and 4.15+/-3.27, respectively and the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.062). None of the variables related to asthma affected dmft (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Suffering from asthma does not affect the risk of decay in primary teeth.