Abstract
Objective: Typical patients with eating disorders with self-induced vomiting often have several dental problems, but the details of their dental problem are not yet well-recognized by medical doctors and dentists. This study evaluated decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) and the reasons for visiting the Clinical Center of Psychosomatic Dentistry, Nippon Dental University Hospital, in order to elucidate the causes of such problems. Method: Among female patients in their 20s who visited the Nippon Dental University Hospital, 23 patients with eating disorders with self-induced vomiting who visited the Clinical Center of Psychosomatic Dentistry were assigned to the ED group and 26 patients who visited the Division of General Dentistry for the first time and had no history of psychiatric disorders were assigned to the control group, in order to compare their DMFT and study their reasons for visiting the center. Result: DMFT was significantly greater in the ED group. Significant differences between the groups were observed in decayed teeth (D) but not in missing teeth (M) and filled teeth (F). Furthermore, there were significant differences for all sites except for mandibular anterior teeth. As for the reasons for visiting the clinical center, 73.9% of the ED group answered that the reason was their anxiety and distrust towards dental treatment by GPs. Conclusion: The greater DMFT in the ED group suggested that their vomiting behavior and irregular life might have been involved in caries development. However, few caries were observed in the mandibular anterior teeth where caries usually do not occur, and there were no significant differences in DMFT for the mandibular teeth between the groups. These results suggested that an effective method of preventing caries for such patients with eating disorders could be established. Furthermore, the result that significant differences in D were observed but not in F between the groups indicated that they still had caries in spite of the previous dental treatment, which suggested that the dental risk in patients with eating disorders might not be adequately considered and that they felt anxiety and distrust towards dental treatment.
