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Dental prevention and disease awareness in children with congenital heart disease

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Abstract

Objectives

The importance of excellent oral health is known to be crucial in children with congenital heart diseases (CHD). Data about dental health and disease awareness is limited. This study aims to assess preventive measures taken to improve dental health in children with CHD and to gain insight into disease awareness and knowledge about the importance of oral health in children with CHD and to propose measures that could be taken.

Material and methods

Parents of 150 children with CHD were asked to complete a questionnaire containing specific questions about the preventive measures taken by the parents and dental and medical practitioners and their knowledge about underlying disease and the importance of oral health.

Results

Our results show an absence of information in parents concerning preventive measures and oral hygiene. Knowledge of the indications for antibiotic prophylaxis and for actually given medications was lacking. Preventive dental measures were not performed according to current guidelines.

Conclusions

Knowledge of parents about the importance of oral health in children with CHD could be improved. However, specialized centers involving pediatric cardiologists and pediatric dentists could coordinate the education of parents at an early stage. Moreover, general dentists should be trained more frequently concerning the indications for antibiotic prophylaxis, in particular, and the dental care of children with chronic diseases, in general. Warning cards such as the heart pass should be issued to parents of children with CHD.

Clinical relevance

The current study reveals the need for the structured training of medical and dental practitioners to support parents of children with CHD.

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Funding

The work was supported by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353, Berlin, Germany

    Steffen Koerdt

  2. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Ismaninger Str. 22, D-81675, Munich, Germany

    Julia Hartz & Herbert Deppe

  3. Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Chair of preventive pediatrics, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62, D-80992, Munich, Germany

    Stefan Hollatz & Renate Oberhoffer

  4. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Friedrich-Alexander-University, Glückstrasse 11, D-91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Gesche Frohwitter & Marco R. Kesting

  5. Department of Paediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Defects, German Heart Center, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Lazarettstraße 36, D-80636, Munich, Germany

    Peter Ewert

Authors
  1. Steffen Koerdt
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  2. Julia Hartz
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  3. Stefan Hollatz
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  4. Gesche Frohwitter
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  5. Marco R. Kesting
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  6. Peter Ewert
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  7. Renate Oberhoffer
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  8. Herbert Deppe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steffen Koerdt.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Renate Oberhoffer and Herbert Deppe shared senior authorship

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Cite this article

Koerdt, S., Hartz, J., Hollatz, S. et al. Dental prevention and disease awareness in children with congenital heart disease. Clin Oral Invest 22, 1487–1493 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-017-2256-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-017-2256-2

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