Dental health and dental treatment needs in patients with thalassemia major

Background : Patients with thalassemia major needs more dental care due to their medically compromised condition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dental health and dental treatment needs of these patients at Zahedan university school of Dentistry in 2009.

  m aterials and Method : In this descriptive-analytical study, 75 patients with thalassemia major were selected in which 42 boys and 33 girls with mean age of 10.79±6.2 referred to community dentistry center as the case group and 75 patients' relatives referred to Zahedan school of Dentistry as the control group. Two groups matched for age and sex. The studied variables were patient's educational level and their parents, dental caries and treatment needs. Statistical analysis was carried out by chi-squared test and t-test.

  Results : Thalassemic patient had increased average dental caries and missing (d=2.24, m=0.13, D=2.49, M=0.52) than the control group (d=2.13, m=0.05, D=0.97, M=0.35). Pulp therapy was the most needed treatment in patient group and in the other group filling dental caries was needed more.

  Conclusion : According to the high incidence of dental caries in patient with thalassemic major, effective preventive measures, health education and dental treatment are needed for this group.