Young adults with long-term, controlled asthma have more caries and gingival inflammation than those without asthma, according to a study in Acta Odontologica Scandinavica (January 13, 2011).
A group of Swedish researchers studied 20 18- to 24-year-olds with a mean duration of asthma of 13.5 years and 20 matched healthy controls. The researchers clinically examined each patient and registered the prevalence of caries, erosions, gingival inflammation, cervicular fluid, periodontal pockets, and plaque formation rate. They also recorded the salivary flow rate and the number of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli in each patient's saliva.
The researchers found that the mean decayed and filled surfaces, including manifest and initial caries, was 8.6 in the asthma group and 4.0 in the control group (p = 0.09). Initial caries lesions were more common in the asthma group than in the control group (p = 0.02), and the asthma group had more gingivitis (p = 0.01) and a lower stimulated salivary secretion rate than the controls (p = 0.01).
No differences were found in toothbrushing or dietary habits between the groups.
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