Oral characteristics of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Descriptive study

Abstract

Introduction: In its evolution, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) affects the stomatognathic system, a condition that has not been studied in our country. Objective: To describe the oral clinical characteristics and age-related association in patients with DMD. Patiens and Method: Cross-sectional des-criptive study including 81 patients with DMD of Instituto Teletón Santiago, recruited from August to November 2017, with informed consent. A diagnostic clinical examination was performed to establish the presence of clinical cavities (DEFT, DMFT index), oral hygiene index (Green and Vermillion, simplified), presence of malocclusions, and agerelated associations. Results: 65.4% of patients did not have caries or restorations, showing an average of DMFT = 1.7 ± 1.2, and DEFT= 2.1 ± 1.6. Average oral hygiene index was 1.9 ± 0.8.which is considered regular. 67.9% of the patients had some type of malocclusion, with a statistically significant relation between the presence of cross bite and age group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Lower presence of clinical caries in DMD patients as referred to in bibliography for healthy patients, could be due to periodic dental controls provided by Instituto Teletón Santiago. Increased ca-ses of malocclusions with age may be an indicator of progress of the disease, because changes in the function of mastication muscles are time-dependent, and increase transverse jaw width, causing more prevalent malocclusions such as cross bite and open bite.