Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Bone metabolism and development of teeth are under the influence of systemic factors. Recent studies confirmed the close relationship between the oral tissues with the most prevalent systemic bone disorders in adolescents.

Objective and methods: This study employed a simple method to be easily reproducible: oral clinical exam and radiographic evaluation. Eight patients were studied, 4 males, median age of 15 years (12 to 17).

Results: Occlusion defects (62.5%), enamel hypoplasia (12.5 %) tooth rotations (37.5%), diastemate due to frenulas (37.5%), congenitally missing teeth (12.5 %) and enlarged pulp chambers in 37.5 % of the patients. We could not detect a significant correlation between dental abnormalities and delayed treatment (P>0.05). DMFT index for 12 to 17 years patients (n = 8) showed that the oral health is unsatisfactory (mean DMFT = 5).

Conclusions: This study will help practitioners to integrate the oral health into the systemic health and improve the multidisciplinary approach of pediatric patients between medicine and dentistry.