Oral implications in children with gastroesophageal reflux disease.
OBJECTIVE
To emphasize oral complications in children with gastroesophageal reflux disease. Interest of pediatricians to conduct an orodental examination or to include a dental examination performed by a dentist should be encouraged, as dental erosion, for instance, may be present in these children.


RESULTS
Dental caries, dental erosion, mucosal lesions and oral bacterial load have been studied extensively in children with gastroesophageal reflux disease, but there is no sound consensus about the impact of gastroesophageal reflux disease on oral health parameters.


CONCLUSIONS
Gastroesophageal reflux and oral health deserve to be better understood and recognized by medical staff, pediatricians in particular. Literature on this subject contains many case reports and some cross-sectional studies, resulting in confusing conclusions for clinicians and researchers. Dental caries, dental erosion, mucosal lesions and oral bacterial load are the most frequently studied items in these kinds of study. Dental erosion seems to be an oral finding that should be studied in depth in these children, as conflicting results have been reported in literature, the latter being the result of the use of different indexes to collect clinical data.
Alfaro
Evelyn Vega
EV
Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Centre for Special Care, Ghent University, Dental School, Ghent, Belgium.
Aps
Johan K M
JK
Martens
Luc C
LC
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D019140:Dental Care for Children; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005745:Gastric Acidity Determination; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D009909:Oral Health; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014077:Tooth Erosion / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*