Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Formula Feeding, Oral Health: Possible Link?

Objectives: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) includes Crohn’s Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), but also Coeliac Disease (CoD) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) cause a bowel irritation. The purpose of this survey is to define if there is a connection between the kind of lactation, IBD and oral status.
Methods: This study involves 42 people of 50 initially recruited. Everyone was sent a web link with a questionnaire on SurveyMonkey.com of 5 multiple-choice questions about which kind of IBD they suffer from, the way they were fed in childhood, how long they discover the disease and in which way, and finally if they have noticed oral disorders during the acute stage.
Results: In the sample 50% of people suffer from CD, 26% of people suffer from UC, 12% of people suffer from CoD and 12% suffer from IBS.
52% of people were breastfed, 33% received formula feeding, 10% were breastfed for only 3 months and 5% got a mixed feeding at the same time.
3% discovered the disease in the early childhood, 7% in childhood, 22% in adolescence and 68% in adulthood.
13% find out the disease because of a weight loss, 25% because of abdominal pain, 40% because of blood/mucus in the stool and 22% because of constipation/diarrhoea.
35% answered the final question, of which 66% noticed no oral mucosal inflammation during the acute phases, 32% had oral symptoms due to an acute exacerbation of the disease and 2% had oral disorders not always attributable to the IBD.
Conclusions: According to our results, there is no correlation between formula feeding and IBD, however about 1/3 of participants referred oral inflammation especially canker sores or gingival swelling. These data suggest how clinicians should include these patients in a close monitoring, interfacing also with other specialists.