Six Patients with Atopic Dermatitis Suffering from Metal Allergy to Dental Restorations and Orthodontic Appliances

Abstract

In our out-patient clinic, we experienced six patients with metal allergy to dental restorations and orthodontic appliances. They all had suffered from allergic diseases such as atopic dermatitis, asthma or food allergy. We do not encounter healthy children suffering from dental metal allergy in our clinic.
Although it was reported that patients with metal allergy sometimes have other signs and symptoms in addition to skin lesions, systemic skin lesion was the only manifestation in our cases. Differential diagnosis is therefore very difficult in cases of children with atopic dermatitis suffering from metal allergy. Doctors have to know the history of the disease in detail and the appropriate diagnosis must be performed for the allergic patients, because the occurrence of metal allergy often worsens the original allergic disease.
The allergens for our patients were not only nickel, cobalt, chrome, and palladium, with highly sensitizing capacity, as there were also some patients sensitive to gold with a low sensitizing capacity.