Relationship between dental erosion and respiratory symptoms in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

OBJECTIVES: Both dental erosion and respiratory symptoms are extra-oesophageal manifestations of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The aim of this study was to determine whether dental erosion was correlated with respiratory symptoms in GERD patients. METHODS: 88 GERD patients were recruited and assigned to three groups mainly according to the frequency of respiratory symptoms: Group I: never; Group II: occasional (1-2 days a week or less); Group III: frequent (3-5 days a week or more). All patients underwent medical evaluations, including medical history, questionnaire answering and alimentary tract examinations. Dental examinations were carried out on these patients and 36 healthy controls. Dental erosions were measured by modified method of Smith and Knight Tooth Wear Index (TWI). Location and severity of dental erosion were recorded. RESULTS: The prevalence of dental erosion in Group III (64.52%) was higher (p<0.05) than that in Groups I (36.67%) and II (44.44%). GERD patients were presented with dental erosion with TWI scores ranging from 1 to 4. Though proportion of dental erosion with Score 2 (7/20) in Group III was higher than that in Group I (2/11) and Group II (3/12), there was no statistical significance in the proportions of erosion scores among three patient groups. Correlation coefficient between airway symptoms and scores of dental erosion was 0.231 (p<0.05). Palatal erosion of upper incisor was seen in 8 persons (72.7%) in Group I, 9 persons (75%) in Group II and 16 persons (80%) in Group III (p>0.05). Labial erosion of upper incisors was found in 1 person in Groups I and II respectively and 4 persons in Group III. All patients with labial erosion on upper incisors had palatal erosion, except 1 patient in Group III. CONCLUSIONS: In GERD patients, dental erosions are more prevalent in patients with frequent respiratory symptoms than those in patients with occasional and without respiratory symptoms. Palatal erosion of upper incisor is the main manifestation in patients. Acid reflux is the main causative factor of dental erosion in GERD patients with airway symptoms.

[Comparison of CCL28 in human labial glands and parotids].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the expression of CCL28 in minor and major salivary glands and clarify the role it plays in IgA secreting by minor salivary glands in oral cavity. METHODS: Labial gland and parotid samples were analyzed with real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR assay for CCL28 mRNA. Rank-sum test was used for data analysis using SPSS 10.0 software package. RESULTS: CCL28 mRNA was abundantly expressed in labial glands of healthy adults. Its expression was higher than that in parotids (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The results of this article suggest that the expression level of CCL28 in labial glands is remarkably higher than that in parotids, which reminds us that the high concentration of IgA in minor salivary glands may be associated with their high expression of CCL28.