Dental problems in hypophosphatemic rickets, a cross sectional study

Hypophosphatemic rickets is an uncommon metabolic bone disorder which affects all ages and both sexes. It is characterized by low concentration of serum phosphate levels, impairment of mineralization of bone matrix and teeth with variable etiology. Dental problems in this disorder have not been described well in previous studies.

All hypophosphatemic rickets patients who came to a referral clinic during 2008-2010 enrolled in this study. All patients had low phosphorous and high ALP, normal PTH and 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and normal or low level of serum calcium. After diagnosis all patients were examined by a dentist for enamel hypoplasia, taurodontism, dental abscess, gingivitis, dental caries, and dentition delay.

Nineteen patients were enrolled in this study. The average age of the patients was 10 (±4.23) years (range 3-17). Seventy-nine percent of patients had regular follow-up after diagnosis of background disease. Dental caries and delay in the dentition were most prevalent (each one 47.7%) followed by enamel hypoplasia in 42.1% of the patients. Other problems were taurodontism in 15.8% patients, dental abscess and gingivitis in 10.9%.

Hypophosphatemic rickets is a disease with different clinical features; one of them is dental problem, dental caries is the most common problem.