Asthmatic Symptoms and Caries Experience During Childhood: The GenerationR Study

Objectives: The interest in the relationship between systemic diseases and childhood dental caries is increasing. Still, the association of asthma and dental caries has not yet been well understood. This study aims to examine whether asthma symptoms, their onset and asthma diagnosis are related to the caries experience of 6 year old children.
Methods: This study is performed in a prospective population based cohort study and included 3244 children (1633 girls, 1611 boys). Data for the present study were collected at the children’s age of 1,2,3,4, and 6 years. Information on asthma symptoms (wheezing in the past year) and asthma diagnosis (ever yes/no) were obtained from questionnaires. Dental caries experience was assessed with the dmft-index at the children’s age of 6 years and categorized into no (dmft =0), mild (dmft 1-3) and severe (dmft >3).Multinomial regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between wheezing onset, wheezing patterns and asthma diagnosis with caries experience.
Results: The prevalence of asthma diagnosis was 5%. The prevalence of mild and severe caries experience was 16% and 8%, respectively. Based on the regression analyses asthma diagnosis was not associated with caries prevalence at the age of 6. Wheezing onset at the age of 4 was significantly associated with dental caries at the age of 6 (OR= 1.79; 95%CI= 1.31-2.45). Similarly, persistent wheezing during early childhood was associated with dental caries (OR= 2.00; 95%CI= 1.31-3.06). After adjustment for ethnic background and social economic status the associations remained, however non-significantly.
Conclusions: Multiple factors are proposed to underlie the coincidence of asthma and dental caries in children. However, this study does not deliver profound evidence for an association between asthma and dental caries. Because asthma diagnosis at the age of 6 is often clinically too early, the present study should be repeated in older children.