Dental health and disease in patients with haemophilia - a case-control study

Management of patients with hereditary bleeding disorders in dentistry causes considerable problems. This study examined different aspects of dental health or disease of Lithuanian children and adults with haemophilia and compared them with the general population. Two study groups of cases and controls were formed. Cases were recruited through census sampling and controls were randomly chosen from the general population matched for gender, age and place of residence. Dental health of permanent and deciduous dentitions was assessed by one examiner employing the WHO Criteria for Oral Health Surveys. The following aspects of dental health/disease were considered: overall caries experience, treatment experience, unmet dental treatment needs and the presence of functional dentition. Data were collected from 76 patients with haemophilia among which 27 were children and 49 were adults and a control group of 76 subjects comprising 30 children and 46 adults. Children with haemophilia had a significantly lower overall caries experience and less unmet dental treatment needs in deciduous teeth as compared to healthy children. In permanent dentitions, overall caries experience, unmet dental treatment needs or treatment experience did not differ between cases and controls either in older children or adult cohorts. There were no differences between the study groups regarding the functional dentition-related indices. Healthier deciduous teeth were observed in children with haemophilia than in children without haemophilia, but other dental health or disease-related outcomes did not differ between cases and controls.