202 - Early Antibiotic Exposure and Dental Caries in Children: Five-Year Retrospective Review

Early Antibiotic Exposure and Dental Caries in Children: Five-Year Retrospective Review, Shidler, M, Kerins CA, (Texas A&M University College of Dentistry, Children’s Medical Center, Dallas, TX)

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine if early antibiotic usage for the treatment of tonsillitis, strep throat and/or otitis media in children predisposes them to increased dental caries.

Methods: This study was a retrospective chart review of patients followed at Children’s Health who have a history of early antibiotic use as prescribed for ‘tonsillitis,’ ‘strep throat,’ or ‘otitis media’ and are seen by either CMC Dental Clinic or private practitioners for either restorative treatment under GA or in the dental clinic. Data included: age of medical diagnoses, type and frequency of antibiotic administration, history of tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy, history of dental treatment, and number of carious lesions.

Results: Of the 202 patients that met the inclusion criteria, there was not a significant relationship between the age of medical diagnosis and the caries experience at age five.
There was no correlation found between the frequency of prescribed antibiotics as related to the patient’s caries experience or their FMDR occurrences. Additionally, there was no correlation found between the frequency of prescribed antibiotics to the patient’s payor source. This research could benefit from further analysis in two key areas: 1. Increase the study’s power. 2. Investigate if the number of times a patient had antibiotics prescribed for a specific infection is related to their caries experience.
As previously proven in the literature, this study also found that there is a significant correlation between the incidence of caries and the payor source. MMC patients experienced a higher rate of caries than private pay patients.
There were three significant limitations in the patient dataset:
1. Patients seen by CMC Otolaryngology Clinic may see private dental practitioners; however, their dental record was not accessible for evaluation.
2. FMDR could have been performed outside of the CMC network and not captured within this dataset.
3. The majority of patients captured in this data had FMDR, thus skewing the results towards a higher caries experience.

Greater significance of the data may be found with a larger sample size, but there may not be any correlation between early antibiotic usage and a patient’s caries experience.

Conclusions:
1. In this study, early antibiotic usage did not correlate with increased caries experience.
2. As noted in other studies, payor source and caries experience are significantly related.