501 - Caries Experience In Patients With Congenital Heart Disease - A Retrospective Study

Abstract:

Purpose: The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the caries experience of pediatric patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to determine if caries experience differs based on cardiac diagnosis, medication use, or concomitant diagnosis of Trisomy 21.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients ≤12 years old was conducted between 07/01/2011 – 05/01/2024. Charts were identified where caregivers selected a cardiac diagnosis and were further stratified by (1) those requiring cardiac follow-up (experimental group 1), (2) those also diagnosed with Trisomy 21 (experimental group 2), and (3) those not requiring cardiac follow-up (control group). Data extracted from the medical and dental charts included referral source, cardiac diagnosis, cardiac surgery history, medication use, comorbidities, oral hygiene, caries risk assessment, deft scores, and treatment needs. Student t tests, chi-squared tests, and Fisher exact tests were used, where appropriate, with p-values less than 0.05 considered significant.

Results: 364 patients were included in this study, including 89 in experimental group 1, 41 in experimental group 2, and 234 in the control group. Those requiring cardiac follow-up had higher cardiac medication use (P < .00001), poorer oral hygiene (P=.004), higher deft scores (P=.0007), and required more treatment under general anesthesia (P < .00001) compared to the other groups. Patients with CHD and Trisomy 21 had scores between experimental group 1 and the control group.

Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the importance of an interdisciplinary collaboration between pediatric dentists and cardiologists to support early preventive dental care and close monitoring for patients requiring medical follow-up.

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