Concomitant oral findings in children after cardiac transplant

Heart transplantations have been performed in the Centre for Paediatric Heart Surgery at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen (Germany) since 1988. For further consultation and therapy, some affected children subsequently present at the Polyclinic for Paediatric Dentistry. In all these cases problematic oral findings were diagnosed. It was the aim of this study to describe the different findings and to create a concept for avoiding them in the future. Altogether, 10 children with cardiac transplants (three girls, seven boys) were examined and, where necessary, treated. At the time they first presented, they were between 23 and 119 months old (average = 72.2) and had all been operated on (organ transplant) in the first 6 months of life. Each child showed evidence of gingival hyperplasia in the area of the front teeth, which was because of ongoing immunosuppression. In three patients, reactive mucosal caps avoided the age-related penetration of a permanent incisor in the upper jaw. In addition, the primary teeth of six children were affected by caries; in two of these cases, the damage was because of the nursing-bottle syndrome. The results show that any infant with cardiac transplant has to be subjected to careful dental examination and offered comprehensive medical care in cooperation with the competent centre for child cardiac surgery. Furthermore, the parents of such children should be informed prior to transplantation about the possibility of subsequent findings and how these findings can be either avoided or, if necessary, adequately treated.