Dental Caries in Children with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria in Israel

Abstract

Most cases of chronic urticaria in children are idiopathic. Chronic focal infections of the sinuses or oral cavity have been mentioned as a cause of chronic urticaria because of the persistent antigenic stimulation. To investigate whether children with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) have a higher prevalence and total experience of dental caries than other children in Israel, oral examination was performed to determine decay, missing, filled-teeth (DMFT) scores in 25 children with CIU (mean age, 11.76 ± 3.84 years) and 50 children with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) (mean age, 12.57 ± 3.29 years). The results of both groups were compared with reference data from another study on 12-year-old schoolchildren in Israel (n = 762). DMFT scores were 2.84 ± 3.18 in the CIU group, 1.56 ± 1.77 in the PAR group (p = 0.07), and 2.99 ± 2.7 in the reference group (p = 0.80). The difference between the PAR and reference groups was statistically significant (p = 0.001). Twenty-eight percent of the children with CIU were caries-free, compared with 44% of the children with PAR and 21.2% of the reference group (p = 0.18, 0.41, respectively). The difference between the PAR and the reference groups was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). In summary, children with CIU have a total caries experience similar to that of the nonselected pediatric population in Israel. Their DMFT score is slightly higher than those in children with PAR, but without statistical significance. The results of this study do not support an association between chronic urticaria and dental caries in children.