Oral aphthous ulcers and dental enamel defects in children with coeliac disease

Coeliac disease is characterized by oral manifestations, such as dental enamel defects and recurrent oral aphthae. In this study we compared the prevalence of enamel defects and recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) between patients diagnosed with coeliac disease and healthy controls.

A total of 72 patients with coeliac disease were studied together with 162 normal healthy subjects as controls to individualize the prevalence of enamel defects and recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) in this disease.

Dental enamel defects were found in 14/70 (20%) coeliac patients and in 9/159 (5.6%) controls. In particular, 13/53 (24.5%) coeliac patients with mixed or permanent dentition and 1/17 (5.8%) coeliac children with deciduous dentition had enamel defects. Altogether, 9/145 (6.2%) control subjects with mixed or permanent dentition had dental enamel defects. None of the controls with deciduous dentition had enamel defects. Thus, the enamel defects occurred more frequently in coeliac patients (p < 0.001). Regarding RAS, 24/72 (33.3%) coeliac patients and 38/162 (23.4%) control subjects had aphthous ulcers. Statistically significant differences were not observed between the two groups (p > 0.05). One in three coeliac subjects suffering from RAS received benefit from a gluten-free diet.

In the present study, the prevalence of enamel defects was found to be greater in coeliac patients than healthy controls. Even though the prevalence of RAS in coeliac subjects varied from healthy controls, the difference was not statistically significant. However, more than 1/3 coeliac subjects suffering from RAS benefited from a gluten-free diet.