Relation between Childhood Asthma and Dental Erosion in Al-Kharj Region of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a long-lasting disease that affects large number of the society and could impact on the oral health leading to increase in the needs of prevention and treatment. Currently, the prevalence of childhood asthma in Saudi Arabia is ranging from 9% to 33%. OBJECTIVE: the objective was to evaluate dental erosion in control children and those with asthma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study, with a sample of 100 children aged 3–12 years. Equally distribution of subjects was between the asthmatic and non-asthmatic group, at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University Dental Clinics, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia. The assessment consisted of an oral examination assessing erosive wear according to the American Academy of Pediatrics 2018 guidelines and a questionnaire to the parents/guardians addressing the background details and information about the child asthma. RESULTS: Among 12 (24%) asthmatic children and 9 (18%) non-asthmatic children had dental erosion. In the adjusted analysis, no association was found between asthma and erosion. It has been shown that oral hygiene may have an effect occurrence or severity of erosion; brushing teeth once or more per day appeared to have less incidence of dental erosion compared with those not brushing their teeth regularly. CONCLUSIONS: This article provided no additional data than that given earlier, where no correlation was observed between asthma and dental erosion in children aged from 3 to 12 years.