Evaluation of the effects of iron containing supplements on primary teeth of children

Abstract

Aim: Extrinsic tooth staining potential of iron replacement therapy causesa belief among the parents that these drugs cause tooth decay. In order toclarify this suspicion, the relationship between iron replacement therapy,dental iron concentrations and tooth decay was examined.Methodology: The study was carried out on 21 children, whose age werebetween 5 and 12 years and had gone through primary teeth extractionprocess. The children were evaluated for caries, missing and filling index(DMFT). The parents’ of the children were asked to fill out a questionnairethat included questions about whether their children were receiving ironreplacement therapy during their infancy. The iron levels in the sampleswere measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer and the resultswere evaluated statistically.Results: There was no significant difference between the DMFT score ofchildren who received regular iron replacement during infancy and who didnot receive. There was not a statistically significant difference betweenthe median iron concentration in the primary teeth of the children whowere supplemented with iron in their toddler’s age (10,5 mikrog/gr (5,3-17,3)) and were not supplemented (5,6 mikrog/gr (0,64 – 48,9)).Conclusions: The results of the study showed that iron replacement hadno adverse effect on the primary teeth.