Oral and Dental Health Status in Patients with Primary Antibody Deficiencies

Primary antibody deficiencies (PAD) are a group of immune system disorders, associated with decreased levels of secretory and protective immunoglobulins. Because of the important role of immunoglobulins in the protection  of oral cavity, patients with PADs  are more susceptible to dental caries or oral manifestations. This study was performed  to investigate the oral and dental manifestations of PADs patients. In this study, 33 patients with PADs (21 common variable immunodeficiency, 8 X- linked agammaglobulinemia and 4 hyper IgM syndrome) and 66 controls were examined; the number of decayed, missed and filled teeth (DMFT) were investigated. Aphthous  was the most frequent manifestation in PADs patients (38.7%), which wassignificantly16.7% higher than  the  controls  (p=0.03). The  patients  with  PADs  showed significantly higher presentation of other oral and dental manifestations, including herpes sores, candidiasis tonsillitis, gingivitis, calculus, enamel hypoplasia and other ulcerations. The mean DMFT scores were 6.15±3.6 and 1.93±0.4 in PADs patients and controls, respectively (p<0.001). Although the patients with common variable immunodeficiency had higher means of DMFT in comparison with other groups of PADs, this difference was not statistically significant. This study showed significantly higher frequency of oral and dental manifestations in the patients with PADs  compared to controls. Therefore, regular examination of oral cavity could be suggested in this group of immunodeficient patients.