Caries increment in children and urinary catecholamines: findings at one-year

This one-year follow-up study investigates the relationship between urinary catecholamine levels and dental caries increment in 314 children, boys and girls, ages six to eight years. Dental caries was recorded clinically and radiographically and oral hygiene was evaluated by recording the dental plaque. A 24-hour urine sample was collected for each subject, in a year interval, and a representative sample was analyzed by the HPLC technique to assay the catecholamine content. Socioeconomic factors such as parental age, education, and profession were recorded by a questionnaire distributed to the parents. Of the examined children, forty-four (16 boys and 28 girls) did not develop new dental caries and constituted the Caries-Free group. Two New Caries groups, A and B, of forty-four children each (16 boys and 28 girls) were matched by age and sex. Differences were tested in the quantitative and qualitative data by the paired t-test and the chi 2 test, respectively, while a regression analysis was applied to measure the effects of norepinephrine and dopamine on epinephrine. The logistic multiple-regression analysis was used to test, in the entire population, the impact of catecholamines and other related factors on the probability of a subject's developing new dental caries. The 95 percent probability was used. The results showed statistically significant differences in epinephrine and norepinephrine values between Caries-Free and New Caries group A in both examinations. Also, significant differences were found between Caries-Free and New Caries group B in epinephrine and norepinephrine at the first examination, while at the second examination the difference was significant only in epinephrine. The data provide evidence, therefore, that an emotionally stressful state can be an etiologic factor of dental caries.